UPDATE, Oct. 5, 4:25 p.m. ET: Several months after initial reports surfaced detailing a credit card hack executed against presidential candidate Donald Trump's hotel chain, the company has issued a more official response following an investigation.
After conducting an independent forensic investigation, the Trump Hotel Collection (THC) found no conclusive evidence of customer payment information having been taken or misused. However, on the THC website, the company stated that the security update was provided "out of an abundance of caution to inform potentially affected customers of the incident and to call their attention to some steps they may choose to take to help protect themselves."
The company's investigation did confirm that unauthorized malware access to payment card information had occurred. In relation to that point, THC offered the following warning:
Payment card data (including payment card account number, card expiration date, and security code) of individuals who used a payment card at the Hotel between May 19, 2014, and June 2, 2015, may have been affected.
The company is also advising customers to check their credit and debit card statements for unusual activity, just in case.
At present, the company says the malware has been removed and THC is reconfiguring its systems to guard against such incidents. In addition to the warning, THC is also offering one year of free fraud resolution and identity protection services to customers who used their credit cards at THC properties during the afore-mentioned dates.
Original story follows.
The slow-motion meltdown of Donald Trump's empire, brought on largely by his inflammatory political comments, continues apace, this time fueled by hackers.
The Trump Hotel Collection, a chain of luxury hotels, has been hit by a major credit card breach.
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"Like virtually every other company these days, we have been alerted to potential suspicious credit card activity and are in the midst of a thorough investigation to determine whether it involves any of our properties," said Eric Trump, the executive vice president of development and acquisitions at The Trump Organization, in a statement to CNBC.
The first news of the credit card breach was reported by Krebs on Security, where the breach was described as a series of charges made to credit and debit cards used at the hotel chain.
Among the Trump Hotel Collection locations possibly affected are New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, Chicago and Honolulu. Details regarding the severity of the breach in terms of monies lost have yet to be disclosed.
There's no word on whether the hack attack is somehow linked to Donald Trump's recent fall from grace, which saw major partners like Univision, NBC and Macy's all sever ties with the uniquely coiffed real estate mogul and Republican presidential candidate.