Data breach compromises Choice Hotels

Choice Hotels International, which is among the world's leading hotel chains, had its franchisees' and franchise applicants' data compromised following a social engineering attack last month, according to Cybernews.

Threat actors were able to infiltrate Choice Hotels' system even with multi-factor authentication on Jan. 14, enabling access to records containing franchisees' and franchise applicants' names and Social Security numbers, said the firm in its breach notice that emphasized accelerated efforts to contain the intrusion. While no specific number of impacted individuals was provided, other disclosures revealed the data breach to have affected 67 residents in New Hampshire and 66 residents in Maine.

Choice Hotels has also sent separate breach filings to California and Vermont regulators. Vigilance on potential fraud and identity theft attacks has been recommended to individuals hit by the incident, who have been given two years of complimentary credit monitoring, identity theft insurance, and dark web tracking services.