Wichita Hyatt Hotel among credit card breach

Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) has provided additional information of data breach at its hotels.

According to data compiled by Thomson Reuters, Hyatt Hotels (NYSE:H)’s stock is covered by 18 equity analysts across the Street, with 1 analysts giving it a Sell rating, 12 a Buy rating, while 8 consider it a Hold.

The hotel chain, which encompasses 627 hotels, announced in December that it had discovered malware in its systems. The hack occurred primarily at Hyatt-managed restaurants, but other locations were also affected. However, that window began around July 30, 2015 at a limited number of properties.

Goldman Sachs lowered shares of Hyatt Hotels Co.

While Hyatt has yet to detail how the attack happened – or what steps it’s taken to prevent a reoccurrence – security experts have recommended that all organizations ensure they’ve segmented their networks, changed default passwords on POS devices and that they constantly monitor for signs of data exfiltration (see Why POS Malware Still Works).

Hyatt is in the process of mailing letters to customers for whom Hyatt hotels have a mailing address, and sending emails to customers for whom Hyatt hotels have only an email address.

The three hotels in Russian Federation are Ararat Park Hyatt Moscow, Hyatt Regency Sochi and Hyatt Regency Ekaterinburg. The malicious software was created to collect the names, card number, expiration date, and internal verification code on credit and debit cards. About 100 of the impacted hotels are in the U.S.

China, India and the United States are at the top of the list for malware-ridden hotel systems, with 22, 20 and 99 infected sites respectively. “We have been working tirelessly to complete our investigation, and we now have more complete information that we want to share so that customers can take steps to protect themselves”.

“We encourage you to remain vigilant and to review your payment card account statements closely”, he said, adding that cards could now be used “with confidence” inside the hotel chain following the investigation.

The firm is offering one year’s free protection to people who used their cards in one of the compromised hotels.