Hilton Worldwide announced Tuesday that it recently detected unauthorized malware targeting customers' payment card information.
The company said it immediately launched an investigation into the breach and has since taken action to strengthen its point-of-sale systems.
"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," the company said in a news release. "This information includes cardholder names, payment card numbers, security codes and expiration dates, but no addresses or personal identification numbers (PINs)."
The malware targeted customer information over a 17-week period, Hilton said, encouraging travelers who used a payment card at a Hilton hotel between Nov. 18, 2014 and Dec. 5, 2014 or between April 21, 2015 and July 27, 2015 to closely review and monitor their statements for potentially fraudulent activity.
"Hilton Worldwide is strongly committed to protecting customers' payment card information, and we sincerely regret any inconvenience this may have caused customers," the company concluded Tuesday.
Hilton's announcement comes just days after Starwood Hotels & Resorts notified customers of a similar malware intrusion. Last week, Starwood confirmed that some of its restaurants, gift shops and other point-of-sale systems at more than four dozen of its North American properties were infected with malware enabling unauthorized parties to access some customers' payment card data.
Starwood also said it worked with third-party forensic experts to investigate the breach.
"Protecting our customers' information is critically important to Starwood and we take this issue extremely seriously," Starwood president of the Americas Sergio Rivera said in a statement. "Quickly after we became aware of the possible issue, we took prompt action to determine the facts. We have been working closely with law enforcement authorities and have been coordinating our efforts with the payment card organizations. We want to assure our customers that we have implemented additional security measures to help prevent this type of crime from reoccurring."
Travelers who used a payment card at a Hilton property within the aforementioned dates or at a Starwood property of late are encouraged to closely monitor their card statements.
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