MON AM News: State getting $830,000 from Marriott settlement, DOJ says; UW-Stout program aims to help guard against cyberattacks

October 14, 2024

— Wisconsin is set to receive more than $830,000 from a multi-state settlement with Marriott International, Inc., Attorney General Josh Kaul announced.

The payment coming to the state is part of a $52 million settlement related to a data breach of the Maryland-based company’s guest reservation system, according to Friday’s release from the state Department of Justice. Under the settlement with 50 AGs, the company says it will improve data security and take other actions to protect consumers, along with the financial penalty.

Marriott International is the world’s largest hotel chain with nearly 9,000 hotels across more than 30 different brands, and about 1.5 million rooms. Marriott in 2016 acquired the hotel chain Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, taking over the Connecticut business’ computer network that same year. But that network had already been breached by “intruders” between 2014 and late 2018, according to the state DOJ, which led to guest records of 131.5 million U.S. customers being exposed.

“Data breaches like this one can result in harm to consumers,” Kaul said in a statement. “Companies that have confidential consumer information must keep it safe.”

The exposed information included contact details, dates of birth, gender, reservation data, hotel stay preferences, along with a “limited number” of unencrypted passport numbers and expired payment information.

The settlement resolves allegations that the company violated state consumer protection laws, personal information protection laws and breach notification laws, the release shows. The company allegedly didn’t employ “reasonable” data security or address holes in its security system when using and integrating Starwood’s systems.

In a statement on the settlement, the company notes it’s making “no admission of liability” related to the allegations underlying the resolution. It says efforts to improve data privacy and information security are already in place or underway, while customers are also being given the chance to have their personal data deleted.

“Protecting guests’ personal data remains a top priority for Marriott,” the statement reads. “These resolutions reaffirm the company’s continued focus on and significant investments in maintaining and adapting its programs and systems to assess, identify, and manage risks from evolving cybersecurity threats.”

Marriott has agreed to implement a wide-ranging security program including expanding related employee training, collect and retain less consumer information, and enact new security requirements for consumer data such as encryption and more monitoring, among other changes.

For any future acquisitions, Marriott will also need to “further assess” any new security programs and plan for how to address gaps during integration. Plus, the company must get a third-party security assessment every two years for a 20-year period.

See more in the DOJ release.

— UW-Stout is running a program next year to help businesses guard against the rising threat of cyberattacks, funded with $125,000 from the U.S. Department of Defense.

The university recently announced the funding from the federal agency’s Cyber Service Academy for ACCESS — the AI-Powered Cloud CMMC and Education Support System program. CMMC stands for cybersecurity maturity model certification, a DOD program meant to bolster its own supply chain against online attackers.

Under this program, defense contractors handling “sensitive” but unclassified information will be required to meet tight cybersecurity standards, according to the announcement. Prof. Holly Yuan, principal investigator and project lead, says the effort will address higher demand for cybersecurity workforce development for the defense industry.

“This initiative will not only help defense suppliers understand CMMC compliance but also enhance cybersecurity training through partnerships with community colleges and industry leaders,” Yuan said in a statement.

Under her direction, a UW-Stout team will develop a prototype network to simulate a manufacturing system, including cloud services, a headquarters, offices and teleworkers. This will allow the team to replicate cyberattack situations for various CMMC levels, giving participants insights on how AI and other technologies can be used in this context.

Yuan will be building an AI “bot” with a large language model to automate tasks related to the certification compliance, with a goal of simplifying the regulatory landscape for companies working with the DOD.

The ACCESS training program will be integrated into the university’s Bachelor of Science in cybersecurity curriculum, which now has more than 130 students after launching in 2022.

See the release.

— A new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum notes Wisconsin recorded 34 dam failures between 2000 and 2023, the second most in the nation behind South Carolina.

Of those 34, 28 failures have occurred since 2018.

The state’s more than 4,000 dams run the gamut from hydroelectric projects to the earthen kind that create farm ponds. One of the most dramatic was in 2008, when the collapse of a highway holding back Lake Delton drained the body of water to its bed and destroyed five homes.

Earlier this year — but outside the period reviewed in the report — heavy rain caused flooding in northeastern Wisconsin and evacuations in the cities of Appleton and Manawa as a dam failed. ‘

Dams are assigned a rating based on the potential for loss of human life if they don’t operate properly.

In Wisconsin, there are 206 high hazard potential dams, and only five were found to be in poor or unsatisfactory condition, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum. That’s about 2.4% of the state’s high hazard dams and an improvement from the 10.1% that were in poor or unsatisfactory condition in 2019.

Since 2009, every state budget has included at least $4 million in grants to local governments for dam work, with a one-time increase to $10 million in the 2021-23 budget.

See the report.

— Marquette University’s College of Nursing is expanding its simulation center with a $1.6 million federal grant.

The funding from the U.S. Department of Education is going toward the HEROES project, which stands for Health Education and Retention Optimization through Equipment and Simulation.

It’s part of the college’s goal of preparing 5,000 entry-level nurses to enter the workforce in the coming decade, according to Friday’s release. The center gives nursing students opportunities to prepare for clinical scenarios in various settings.

Dr. Jill Guttormson, dean of the College of Nursing, says the state faces a “future critical shortage of nurses,” which was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Marquette and the College of Nursing’s mission has been to meet this demand by expanding capacity to educate a diverse and skilled workforce of nurses … This grant expands our capacity to train more nurses at a continuing high level,” Guttormson said in a statement.

See the release.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

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— In the latest Dem radio address, Gov. Tony Evers wishes Wisconsinites a happy Manufacturing Month.

The Dem governor says he declared 2024 the Year of the Worker “because it’s well past time we got to work addressing our state’s longstanding workforce challenges—including our need to recruit and retain talented workers.”

Evers says he’s been glad to support programs and initiatives, like the Workforce Innovation Grant Program, to help people gain the skills they need for careers in industries such as the manufacturing sector.

“So, as we celebrate Manufacturing Month and our state’s proud manufacturing history, I look forward to continuing our support for this critical industry and the workers who power it,” he says.

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