Another Credit Card Hacking

The recent spate of credit card hacking has expanded to major hotel chains.

White Lodging -- a company that maintains Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton and Westin hotel franchises -- has apparently suffered a data breach that exposed guests' credit and debit card information in 2013, independent security researcher Brian Krebs said. Banking industry sources noticed fraud among hundreds of cards that had been previously used at Marriott hotels, wrote Krebs, who first reported that Target had suffered a massive data breach around Black Friday last year. "But those same sources said they were puzzled by the pattern of fraud, because it was seen only at specific Marriott hotels, including locations in Austin, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Louisville and Tampa," Krebs wrote. "Turns out, the common thread among all of those Marriott locations is that they are managed" by White Lodging, he said. White Lodging, which is based in Merrillville, Indiana, issued a statement Sunday night in response to the findings. "An investigation is in progress, and we will provide meaningful information as soon as it becomes available," White Lodging said in a statement.

The number of possibly affected hotel customers has not been disclosed.