Hilton confirms data breach; payment info accessed by hackers

If you have stayed at one of Hilton’s hotels in the past year you might want to keep an eye on your credit card history. The hotel chain has confirmed that malicious software targeted its payment systems over a seventeen-week period.

According to a statement released Tuesday, Hilton’s payment systems were compromised over two time periods – from Nov. 18 to Dec. 5, 2014 and April 21 to July 27, 2015.

Hilton said the malware didn’t expose customer’s PIN codes, but it did allow hackers to obtain card numbers, expiry dates, security codes and cardholder names – in other words, enough information to make fraudulent purchases.

“Hilton Worldwide worked closely with third-party forensics experts, law enforcement and payment card companies on this investigation, and determined that specific payment card information was targeted by this malware,” read the statement.

“Customers generally are not responsible for fraudulent activity on their payment cards, and should contact their financial institution directly if they notice any irregularities.”

The acknowledgement of the data breach came two months after security researcher Brian Krebs published a report alleging multiple banks suspected a credit card breach at Hilton hotels across the U.S.

Hilton has not specified how many hotel locations or brands were impacted by the breach.

The company is offering affected customers one year of complimentary credit monitoring in light of the incident.