Breach Brief – Marriott, Campaign Sidekick,

Published On April 2, 2020 | By Tom Huskerson | Breach Briefs, News and Analysis

Marriott again! Marriott Hotels announced another data breach affecting five million customers. This is the second security incident to hit the hotel giant in recent years.

In a statement released by the hotel chain it said; “At the end of February 2020, we identified that an unexpected amount of guest information may have been accessed using the login credentials of two employees at a franchise property.”

According to the company the breach happened in mid January. Marriott reported that the incident compromised guest’s personal information including name, mailing address, email address, and phone number, loyalty account information and points balance and other details that includes company, gender, dates of births, room preferences, and language preferences.

Marriott stated an investigation into the breach was being conducted, but pointed out that there was no evidence that Marriott account passwords, PINs, payment card information, passport information, national IDs, or driver’s license numbers were compromised.

Campaign Sidekick

Cybersecurity company UpGuard has reported it has discovered sensitive U.S. voter information left exposed due to a data breach by the voter contact and canvassing app Campaign Sidekick. According to UpGuard an unprotected copy of Campaign Sidekick’s app’s code was mistakenly left freely available on its website. The breach has since been secured.

Campaign Sidekick is used by both the Republican and Democratic parties to capture, unify, analyze and act on data about U.S. voters. The app helps collate information from interactions that take place with voters during canvassing.

Upguard found the information on February 12th, 2020. A directory on app.campaignsidekick.vote was publicly available online. According to Upguard the files were downloaded and discovered to contain sensitive information. An analyst notified Campaign Sidekick of the breach and following communication between the two organizations the breach was secured on February 15th.

No details about what type of information was exposed is currently available.

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About The Author

Tom Huskerson Bio Born in Richmond Virginia Tom Huskerson is a military veteran who settled in California after his discharge. Tom attended Santa Barbara City College where he began his writing career as a campus reporter. He worked as an intern news reporter for the Santa Barbara News-Press writing feature stories before moving on to San Francisco. At San Francisco State University Tom studied broadcast communications and began to focus on the Internet. He completed his graduate thesis on Internet advertising. Tom was the first student to ever focus on the Internet as a graduate student at San Francisco State University. After graduation he went to work for Zona Research in California’s Silicone Valley. As a research associate Tom supported senior analyst writing on the latest developments in the Internet industry. During the dot com boom Tom worked for several web businesses as a market researcher and analyst. As a writer and researcher Tom has authored various technical works including a training program for Charles Schwab security. Other projects included professional presentations on workplace violence and hiring security contractors. Tom has also written both fiction and non-fiction works and blogging for a travel website. He has published two books of short stories and completed two novels. Tom is the owner of Scribe of Life Literature and EbonyCandle.com. Tom is not the chief editor for the OnTechStreet. com. A news and information blog that focuses on tech news for African-Americans. The blog is the result of his desire to inform the African American community of the dangers and benefits of the cyber age. In his blog Tom reports on information security, new and analysis, scams and hoaxes, legal happenings and various topics that arise from the age of information. Tom believes that technology is a necessary tool for black people and they should know what is happening. Tom writes believing that techno speak is for the professional and that valuable information can be communicated using plain language. As a result he has embraced the motto, Less Tech, More Knowledge.

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