Marriott to pay $52M to bolster data security

Marriott International has agreed to pay $52 million and make changes to bolster its data security to resolve state and federal claims related to major data breaches that affected more than 300 million of its customers worldwide.

The Federal Trade Commission and a group of attorneys general from 49 states and the District of Columbia announced the terms of separate settlements with Marriott on Wednesday. The FTC and the states ran parallel investigations into three data breaches, which took place between 2014 and 2020.

As a result of the data breaches, “malicious actors” obtained the passport information, payment card numbers, loyalty numbers, dates of birth, email addresses and/or personal information from hundreds of millions of consumers, according to the FTC’s proposed complaint.

The FTC claimed that Marriott and subsdiary Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s poor data security practices led to the breaches.

Specifically, the agency alleged that the hotel operator failed to secure its computer syste with appropriate password controls, network monitoring or other practices to safeguard data.

As part of its proposed settlement with the FTC, Marriott agreed to provide all of its U.S. customers with a way to request that any personal information associated with their email address or loyalty rewards account number be deleted.

Marriott also settled similar claims brought by the group of attorneys general. In addition to agreeing to strengthen its data security practices, the hotel operator also will pay $52 million penalty to be split by the states.

Nearly 10 million pounds of meat recalled

A company is recalling nearly 10 million pounds of meat and poultry products made at an Oklahoma plant because they may be contaminated with listeria bacteria that can cause illness and death.

BrucePac of Woodburn, Oregon, recalled the roughly 5,000 tons of ready-to-eat foods this week after U.S. Agriculture Department officials detected listeria in samples of poultry during routine testing. Further tests identified BrucePac chicken as the source. The recall includes 75 meat and chicken products.

The foods include products like grilled chicken breast strips that were made at the company’s facility in Durant, Oklahoma. They were produced between June 19 and Oct. 8 and shipped to restaurants, food service vendors and other sites nationwide, government officials said.

The products have a best-by date of June 19, 2025, to Oct. 8, 2025. Officials said they are concerned that the foods may still be available for use or stored in refrigerators or freezers. The products should be thrown away, they added.

Mortgage rates jump most since April

Mortgage rates in the U.S. rose for a second straight week, reaching the highest level since early September.

The average for a 30-year fixed loan was 6.32%, up from 6.12% last week, Freddie Mac said in a statement Thursday. It was the biggest one-week jump since April.

Borrowing costs climbed along with 10-year Treasury yields, which topped 4% this week after robust September jobs data spurred traders to scale back expectations for aggressive Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts. A key measure of inflation for last month rose more then forecast, boosting bets that the Fed will opt for a smaller reduction in November.

About 84% of current mortgages have a rate of 6% or lower, according to a recent analysis by Realtor.com.

Compiled from Associated Press and Bloomberg reports.