Robert R. Belair, a leading authority on privacy matters in Washington, D.C., predicts that in 2014 the FTC will continue its aggressive pursuit of enforcement actions against companies that are subjected to data breaches.  Belair points to the FTC’s pending lawsuit against Wyndham as an example of things to come.

“Barring an adverse outcome in the Wyndham or LabMD [lawsuits], the FTC can be counted on to continue to investigate and police data breaches and use the consent order process to impose data security requirements. At the very end of 2013, the Target Corp. data breach has already produced loud calls from Congress and others for an FTC investigation.”

The FTC’s data breach actions are typically based on allegations that the hacked company failed to properly protect consumers’ personal data in its possession.  This risk is particularly high in the hotel industry, where guests’ personal and credit card information may be used repeatedly throughout a guest’s visit.

Hotels can take steps to protect themselves by properly training their employees to comply with robust data-security practices and policies by utilizing Venza’s PCI training modules or other custom learning solutions

The Venza Group has partnered with Arnall Golden Gregory (AGG) to create a series of interactive eLearning modules to address PCI compliance in the hotel industry. Management, employees and IT are taught about the requirements they must support as part of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards.  The Venza Group also is partnering with AGG to create an interactive eLearning module to train hoteliers on general privacy and security awareness issues.