An undisclosed number of guests of the InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco luxury hotel were alerted that personal information may have been accessed by two criminals who burglarized a sales office and compromised a computer hard drive.
How many victims? Unknown, but with roughly 380 occupancies, the hotel stands to fill more than a hundred thousand rooms per year.
What type of personal information? Names, mailing addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers and credit and debit card numbers.
What happened? A hard drive containing guest information was removed from a computer by two burglars who looted a sales office. However, the hard drive was found left behind in the office.
What was the response? An investigation is ongoing with San Francisco police, and the hotel plans to prosecute the criminals to the fullest extent. The hotel's security department has taken steps to increase security and prevent a similar incident from occurring.
Details: The criminals burglarized the sales office on July 4. Although the hard drive was left behind, a follow-up investigation revealed on July 14 that the crooks, while in the office, may have accessed the drive and all the personal information contained within. Letters were sent to affected guests on Aug. 8.
Quote: “The Hotel deeply values customer privacy and data protection and regrets this incident,” said Nelum Gunewardane, hotel general manager, in the letter. “Please be assured that we have taken every step necessary to address this incident and that we remain committed to protecting the information that you have provided to us. At this time, we are unaware of any fraudulent use of your information.”
Source: oag.ca.gov, “InterContinental Mark Hopkins - Notification Letter,” Sept. 2, 2013.
