Image: Shutterstock Marriott agreed to pay a $52 million settlement to 49 states and Washington, DC, over a series of data breaches that occurred between 2014 and 2020, affecting more than 334 million customers. As part of a separate agreement, the Federal Trade Commission is also requiring Marriott and its subsidiary, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, to implement an information security program to settle charges over the data breaches. “Marriott’s poor security practices led to multiple breaches affecting hundreds of millions of customers,” Samuel Levine, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. “The FTC’s action today, in coordination with our state partners, will ensure that Marriott improves its data security... Continue reading…