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Chinese Spies Reportedly Behind Massive Marriott Hack (cnet.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: A Chinese intelligence-gathering effort was behind the massive Marriott hotels data breach that exposed the personal information for up to 500 million people, the New York Times reported Tuesday. The hackers are believed to have been working for China's Ministry of State Security, the Times reported citing sources who had been briefed on the investigation's preliminary results. The revelation emerges as the U.S. Justice Department is preparing to announce new indictments against Chinese hackers working for the intelligence and military services, the Times reported.
The hotel chain revealed last month that it had discovered that hackers had compromised the guest reservation database of its Starwood division, whose brands include Sheraton, W Hotels, Westin, Le Meridien, Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft and St. Regis. Marriott said some of the stolen information also included payment card numbers and expiration dates. Private investigators involved in a probe into the breach had previously discovered hacking tools, techniques and procedures that were used in earlier cyberattacks that have been linked to Chinese hackers.
The hotel chain revealed last month that it had discovered that hackers had compromised the guest reservation database of its Starwood division, whose brands include Sheraton, W Hotels, Westin, Le Meridien, Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft and St. Regis. Marriott said some of the stolen information also included payment card numbers and expiration dates. Private investigators involved in a probe into the breach had previously discovered hacking tools, techniques and procedures that were used in earlier cyberattacks that have been linked to Chinese hackers.
Remember the OPM hack from a few years ago? All that data on the names of people working for the US Government in the wind? Now, imagine if you could somehow collate that database with another one that contains the travel records of around half a billion people. Unless working under cover they're going to have loyalty programs just like any other frequent traveller, and knowing even partial travel records of potential foreign agents could prove extremely useful if you were, say, trying to confirm which of all those people on OPM's books were just the routine military/contractor chaff vs. the wheat of the real operators and where they've been.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!