hack Archives - Your Mileage May Vary

Can The Lock On Your Hotel Room Door Be Hacked? Yes, Easily.

We’d all like to think that when we’re in a hotel room, we have some degree of safety and security for our stuff and for ourselves. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case:

It’s incredibly simple to break into a zippered suitcase, even if it has a lock on it
It’s also very easy for someone to break into the safe in your hotel room
If you’re using the hotel’s WiFi, you’re at risk of hackers getting your personal information unless you use one of these

Now, you can keep your online privacy safe with the instructions in the post above. But they can’t do anything to your luggage or safe if they can’t get into your room. And they can’t break into your room because it’s got the deadbolt and stuff, right? So you’re safe, right?

Unfortunately….wrong.

Continue reading “Can The Lock On Your Hotel Room Door Be Hacked? Yes, Easily.”

Marriott Is Still In No Rush When It Comes To Delivering Bad News

Marriott has trudged through the merger between themselves and Starwood by going from one poorly handled situation to the next. However one of the biggest blunders and PR nightmare was when, in November 2018, they announced the discovery of a huge data breach in their systems that may have affected up to 500 MILLION guests. In January 2019, they clarified some details and said the breach only affected about 383 million guests, including the unencrypted passport numbers for 5.25 million guests.

Marriott seemed to be in no hurry to notify people about this hack. As per their website “Marriott began sending emails on a rolling basis on November 30, 2018, to affected guests whose email addresses are in the Starwood guest reservation database.”

I didn’t receive an email until December 6th. At this point, Marriott still didn’t know what information was stolen for each guest but they did provide a link to enroll in the WebWatcher credit monitoring service. It took until February 16, 2019 for Marriott to provide a way to find out the types of your personal information that were released in the hack.

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American Airlines Mucking Up Saver Awards & Bathrooms, Sneak Peek at Galaxy’s Edge, & More

Happy Sunday to all of our travel friends, both near and far! Here are some articles we’ve read from other bloggers (and other sources) that we think you may like, as well, so we’re passing them along.

Continue reading “American Airlines Mucking Up Saver Awards & Bathrooms, Sneak Peek at Galaxy’s Edge, & More”

Funny Story: Sometimes It Doesn’t Take A Rocket Scientist Hack A Hotel Air Conditioner Thermostat

Not long ago, Joe and I stayed at one of our most favorite hotels in New Braunfels, Texas – it’s just a simple Candlewood Suites but a woman named Tasha works there and she’s just THE BEST. Anyway, when we got to our room, it was HOT. The under-the-window Amana unit was there (but not running), and the thermostat was set to 70 degrees F, but the room was nowhere NEAR that.

So I looked at the window unit and this is what I found:

Continue reading “Funny Story: Sometimes It Doesn’t Take A Rocket Scientist Hack A Hotel Air Conditioner Thermostat”