Mandarin Oriental says hackers stole credit card data

[NEW YORK] Hackers broke into the Mandarin Oriental luxury hotel group's database and stole credit card information from "an isolated number" of its properties in the United States and Europe.

"The incident is a direct result of an unauthorised cyber-attack," the Hong Kong-based group said in a statement on Thursday.

"Unfortunately incidents of this nature are increasingly becoming an industry-wide concern and therefore we have also alerted our technology peers in the hospitality industry."

The hotel group said the breach came from malicious software that was "undetectable by all anti-viral systems."

Mandarin said it had removed the malware and was "coordinating with credit card agencies, law enforcement authorities and forensic specialists to ensure that all necessary steps are taken to fully protect our guests and our systems across our portfolio." The luxury lodging group did not identify the hotels affected but said none of them were in Asia.

"We can confirm that only an isolated number of hotels in the US and Europe have been affected," the statement said.

"Moreover, from the information we have to date, the breach has only affected credit card data and not any other personal guest data, and credit card security codes have not been compromised."

Part of the Jardine Matheson group, Mandarin Oriental operates some 45 hotels in 25 countries.

AFP