Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III, along with the attorneys general of 27 states, has entered into a settlement with Sabre Corporation that resolves an investigation into the 2017 data breach of Sabre Hospitality Solutions’ hotel booking system. The breach exposed the data of approximately 1.3 million credit cards. The settlement requires a payment of $2.4 million, of which the State of Tennessee will receive $61,909.08 and injunctive relief.
Sabre Hospitality Solutions, a business segment of Sabre, operates the SynXis Central Reservation system, which facilitates the booking of hotel reservations. SynXis connects business travel coordinators, travel agencies, and online travel booking companies to Sabre’s hotel customers.
On June 6, 2017, Sabre informed its hotel customers of a data breach that occurred between August 2016 and March 2017, which the business had disclosed in a 10-Q SEC filing the month before. The hotels, which were responsible for informing their customers of the breach, did not issue some notifications until 2018.
“When a data breach occurs, everyone down the line should be informed immediately,” said General Slatery. “This settlement seeks to protect both consumers and the customers who have provided sensitive information to a third-party vendor.”
The settlement requires Sabre to include language in future contracts that specifies the roles and responsibilities of both parties in the event of a breach. It also requires Sabre to try to determine whether its customers have provided notice to consumers, and to provide the attorneys general a list of all the customers that it has notified. In addition, the settlement requires that Sabre implement and maintain a comprehensive information security program, implement a written incident response and data breach notification plan, implement specific security requirements, and undergo a third-party security assessment.
Joining General Slatery are the attorneys general of Vermont, Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington.
To read the settlement, click here: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2021/pr21-01-order-avc.pdf