Local hotels owned by HEI Hotels & Resorts (HEI) were hacked, possibly compromising credit card information of customers who made purchases at 20 locations nationwide.
HEI announced the data breach on Monday, saying it had been alerted to the security incident by its card processor.
Anyone who recently checked in at the Marriot La Jolla or the Renaissance San Diego Downtown Hotel may be at-risk of having their credit card information compromised, according to HEI. The notice also extends to customers who purchased food or beverages at these businesses between December, 2015 and June of this year.
Hotel officials say that the malware may have accessed customers' names, card account numbers, expiration dates and verification codes. They are advising customers to check their credit and debit card accounts to determine if there are any fraudulent charges and to report any unusual activity.
In a statement, HEI wrote:
“We are treating this matter as a top priority, and took steps to address and contain this incident promptly after it was discovered, including engaging outside data forensic experts to assist us in investigating and re-mediating the situation and promptly transitioning payment card processing to a stand-alone system that is completely separated from the rest of our network. “
HEI says they have disabled the malware and customers can safely use their systems again.
