Contemporary Business 14th Edition by Louis Boone, David Kurtz

تمرين 10

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts Database Breached In the third such incident in a year, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts-which owns Days Inn, Ramada, Super 8, and other hotel chains and restaurants-discovered that one of its secure databases had been compromised. From a single breach, a hacker gained access to customer information from several of the company's restaurants and other properties, then downloaded it to an off-site URL. The information included names and credit card numbers of guests, the cards' expiration dates, and other data from the magnetic strip on each card. Wyndham does not record customers' birth dates, Social Security numbers, addresses, or other identifying information, and those data were not included. The breach was discovered when a credit card processor and an issuer informed Wyndham that they had become concerned about "unusual fraud patterns" on the cards.Wyndham took immediate steps to stop the break-in. In an open letter on its Web site, the company stated, "We deeply regret that this incident occurred," and detailed its investigation. The chain notified the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates counterfeiting, as well as the attorneys general of several states. It hired an outside investigator to appraise the damage and advise on improving security. It also hired a firm that specializes in credit card industry standards to look into each compromised property in order to improve compliance. In addition, Wyndham notified American Express, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover of card numbers that may have been involved.Wyndham assured guests that identity theft was unlikely, but warned them to monitor their credit card statements and reports vigilantly and to report any suspicious activity to the cards' issuers. It offered affected guests free credit monitoring and set up a special toll-free line that all guests could call for more information.
-What steps do you think Wyndham should take to prevent a future security breach?