The Cabo Chronicles, Vol. 3: These Girls Will Not Put Their Card Info Anywhere

11:26 AM. Jada was right. I hate that Jada was right.

Let me tell you what actually happened.

VacationsRUs had a data breach. Real one. Fifty thousand customer records sitting in an unsecured database — names, emails, partial payment information — exposed to anyone who knew where to look. It happened eight months ago. They've since patched the vulnerability, hired a new security team, overhauled the entire database infrastructure. I found all of this out about twenty minutes after I sent that link, while I was sitting at my desk quietly doing damage control research on my lunch break.

Technically the site is fine now.

I want to be clear that when I sent that link this morning I had done my research. I looked at the features, read the reviews, checked the booking flow. It was not a reckless decision. What I did not find — what was buried deep enough that it didn't surface in my initial search — was the breach. And by the time I found it the group chat had already reached its verdict.

Jada found the TechyCrunch article. Maya's cousin wasn't scammed by a random stranger — her information was sitting in that database the whole time. Iman made one comment about the domain name that I will admit landed. And Kendra, who was calling me a superhero at 9:02 this morning, informed the group that her instincts had never lied.

Here is what I keep coming back to though. The breach happened. The company fixed it. By every measurable standard the site is now more secure than it was before because nothing motivates a startup to take security seriously like fifty thousand angry customers. But none of that matters. The trust is gone and it is not coming back. Not with this group. Probably not with anyone who clicked that TechyCrunch article.

And the worst part? I can't even argue with them. For once I have no counter. Just a "noted" and a smiley face and a whole evening ahead of me to find something else.

I'll let you know how that goes next week.

Unbothered. Moisturized. Lying about both.

— Chloe