Unfortunately, this attack may affect those of you who travel the most. If you have stayed at any of the following Starwood brand hotels, including the Marriot, your information could have been compromised. Westin Sheraton The Lucury Collection Four Points by Sheraton W Hotels St. Regis Le Méridien Aloft Element Tribute Portfolio Design Hotels If you have stay at one of the hotels, it is in your best interest that you assume your information has been compromised! Take precautions and prepare yourself for a variety of social engineering attacks. What to Look For Spear Phishing Alert: Starwood Preferred Guests accounts have been breached, therefore it is likely that attackers have access to both your work and personal email addresses. Now, having your email address, attacks will send you emails that appear to be from real corporations, in an attempt to gain further access to your personal information! Be on patrol for these kinds of email, and if you do spot one, mark it as spam and report it immediately Copycat Phishing and SMS Phishing: With your information now floating around in the wild, attackers will try numerous methods in order to gain further access into your personal information! Marriot has made a statement saying it would email any Starwood Preferred Guests as well as those who may be impacted. Therefore, it is safe to assume that the attackers will now always be sending you and email that will look almost identical. Therefore, to air on the side of caution, do not open any emails, click on any links, or download any attachments that have come from the Marriott or Starwood Hotels. Furthermore, do not respond to any voicemails, or texts that claim they are representatives from the hotels listed above. Instead, look up the hotel and call them directly yourself! Have a Chat with Accounting: Odds are you have a business credit card, and if you have stayed at one of the following hotels in the past 4 years, odds are the bad guys have that same exact card now. Therefore, ask accounting to watch the card for any suspicious activity! If you use your own credit card and get reimbursed, call your bank and inform them of the situation, change your password, and monitor your account closely! Do Not Search for “WebWatcher”: Marriott is offering those who were targeted in the US, Canada, and the UK, a free, one year subscription to a Kroll Identity Service called “WebWatcher”. This service monitors “internet sites where personal information is shared”. Decoded that means they watch hacking sites on the deep web for compromised data records. DO NOT search the web for this program. This search will lead you to programs that, while they carry the same name, are hosts to spyware and other dangerous viruses. If you want to sign up for the free monitoring service, follow the links at info.starwoodhotels.com to country specific versions. Traveling Safe When leaving for an office trip or vacation make sure you: before leaving the office while packing in the taxi at the airport in flight at meetings and conferences at the hotel Following these steps will make sure that you are secure when traveling!
The internet can be a dangerous place. Therefore, as we traverse the digital landscape we must always stay on high alert! Recently, a new type of phishing email has hit our digital world. Be one the lookout for emails that are from my-sharepointdrive@notification.messages365.org. At first glance, this email appears to come from Share Point, giving oneself a false sense of security, but do not be fooled! This email, if opened, will contaminate your computer. This false sense of security is only further by the header of the message reading “This mail is from a trusted sender.”. If you receive a message that looks like this, do not open the attachment! When you receive a suspicious email, always make sure to carefully go over the sender information. Ask yourself these questions: “Do I know this sender?” and “Does this email pertain to something I am familiar with?”. Even if you can answer “yes” to both questions, you should remain vigilant. Always be on the look out for anything that is out of place or suspicious. By playing it safe and paying attention you will save yourself both time and money! At Hammett Technologies we put your online security as a top priority. Be with a team you can trust, become a Hammett Technologies Partner today!
The most recent breach of Facebook, resulting in 50 million accounts hacked, has the corporation in the spotlight once again and for the wrong reasons. To help those who fear they may have been hacked, the Fox 45 Morning News team asked our Owner and CEO, Charles Hammett, to come on and provide his expert knowledge concerning cyber security and help explain to viewers what they can do in order to prevent these attacks from happening. Watch the video below to find out more! At Hammett Technologies the security of our client is our number one concern. With help from our certified team, you can have faith that your company’s users and data are kept safe and secure.