Cybersecurity For Dummies

Chapter 19

Ten Lessons from Major Cybersecurity Breaches

IN THIS CHAPTER

Looking at the Marriott breach disclosed in 2018

Understanding the Target breach

Gaining knowledge from other breaches

Learning from the experiences of others can save people from unnecessary pain and suffering. In this chapter, I discuss five breaches that teach ten lessons. I specifically chose these five because they directly impacted either myself or a member of my family and, due to the breaches’ respective magnitudes, are likely to have impacted you and yours as well.

Marriott

In November 2018, Marriott International disclosed that hackers had breached systems belonging to the Starwood hotel chain as far back as 2014 and had remained in the systems until September 2018 — about two years after Marriott acquired Starwood.

At the time of the disclosure, Marriott estimated that the breach may have impacted as many as 500 million customers and that the data compromised ranged from just the name and contact information for some customers to far more detailed data (including passport numbers, travel data, frequent traveler numbers, and so on) for others. Marriott also estimated that 100 million people’s ...