Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s hotel business is investigating claims that it has been the victim of credit and debit card security breaches.
According to Brian Krebs, a former Washington Post journalist, several U.S. banks have identified data suggesting a pattern of bank accounts being involved in suspicious transactions.
The cases reportedly all revealed one thing in common, that the credit and debit cards had been previously used at Trump hotels.
Ken Westin, analyst, Tripwire, said: "When a larger group of organisations appears to be involved, it usually indicates that the breach took advantage of shared network resources or applications.
"Many organisations share back-end systems and payment gateways to reduce cost… and the data on these shared systems are very high value target for attackers."
One of the on-going issues that consumers and businesses face in the U.S. is that most cards don’t have chips, meaning that the information which is stored on the card’s magnetic strip is used.
Replicating the data from the magnetic strips is well within the means of gangs and is one of the reasons why the UK adopted a chip and pin system.
Eric Trump, EVP, Trump Organisation, said: "Like virtually every other company these days, we have been alerted to potential suspicious credit card activity and are in the midst of a thorough investigation to determine whether it involves any of our properties.
"We are committed to safeguarding all guests’ personal information and will continue to do so vigilantly."
