If you’ve been reading the news recently there is a chance you’ve heard about the latest major company to experience a data breach. This time, it seems Marriott Hotels International has experienced a data breach that affects nearly 500 million customers.
With previous data breaches I’ve never been too concerned. I don’t like that someone else has my personal information, but by the time I find out, what can I do? With this data breach however, I’ve become particularly worried.
I’m not worried about someone having my Marriott/SPG information, but rather I’m worried that someone has my password. It seems with this most recent data breach at Marriott that those responsible may have both user email addresses and passwords. That means if you happen to use the same password for all loyalty accounts that your other unrelated accounts could be vulnerable.
I’m Changing All Of My Passwords
In general I’m not a paranoid person. I figure whatever goes wrong can eventually be corrected. However, I also am not negligent. If I think I can proactively protect myself then I’m going to do so. So, considering someone out there may have my email address and password for my Marriott account, I think it’s time to make some changes.
This week, I’m going through the process of updating my password for all of my loyalty accounts. I’ll be the first to admit that in the past I’ve used “similar” passwords for various loyalty accounts. In fact, some are so similar that perhaps they are the exact same. After all, how else would I remember all of my passwords.
My goal going forward is to have a different password for every loyalty account. Ideally each password will have a similar “root,” but a unique identifier for each program.
For example, a password could be A8E2nB@cAA for my American Airlines account an A8E2nB@cUA for United. I’m not sure that I’ll go with that exact strategy, but you get the idea.
Why I’m So Worried About This Data Breach
As I mentioned, I typically don’t worry about data breaches. We hear about them so often now that they’ve sadly become normal. However, with this breach, users may have access to my loyalty and frequent flyer accounts. This means that they could theoretically transfer award points/miles to others or book award travel using my points.
When your credit card is stolen it’s fairly easy to dispute those charges and get your money back. The same is not true for frequent flyer miles or points transferred to others or used to book travel.
So, because I value my miles I’m proactively going through all of my accounts and protecting myself. The last thing I want is someone booking and taking a flight with miles and being unable to get them back.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, I’m actually kind of grateful that this happened. I’ve been using the same passwords for all of my frequent flyer accounts for far too long. This data breach has made me rethink my password strategy. Also, I think it’s time I start creating unique passwords for every account.
The good news is that by doing this now I’m protecting myself from the next data breach. By using a unique password for every account my hope is that I’ll never have to worry about someone using one of my passwords to access another account. This way, if another one of my accounts is hacked at least the others are potentially safe.
Featured Image Courtesy of Marriott International
