McDonald’s Corp, the world’s largest burger chain, said on Friday that a data breach in South Korea and Taiwan has exposed some customer and employee information, making it the latest global company to be targeted by cybercriminals.
The details of the breach in the two regions were the outcome of an investigation by external consultants following an unauthorized activity on the company’s network.
“While we were able to close off access quickly after identification, our investigation has determined that a small number of files were accessed, some of which contained personal data,” McDonald’s said in a statement.
The company said it will take steps to notify regulators and customers listed in the files, which did not contain customer payment information.
According to the Wall Street Journal, McDonald’s US employees were also affected by the attack. In message to US-based employees, the company said business contact information as well some information about restaurants was included in the breach.
McDonald’s claims that exposed employee information was not personal or sensitive but advised employees to stay vigilant for phishing attacks.
The company disclosed that attackers took hold of customer information in South Korea and Taiwan. That includes emails, phone numbers and addresses for delivery.
Recent breaches by cybercriminals on hospitals and global companies including meat processor JBS and Colonial Pipeline oil have disrupted operations for hours, leading to worries of supply shortages.
Some companies have had to pay a ransom to gain control of their operations and restart production.
McDonald’s said it would use the findings from the investigation to identify ways to improve its security measures.
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu and Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur; Additional excerpts added by the CyberNews team)
More from CyberNews:
RockYou2021: largest password compilation of all time leaked online with 8.4 billion entries
Cybercrime: it will get worse before it gets better
Million-dollar deposits and friends in high places: how we applied for a job with a ransomware gang
Why ransomware attacks will explode in 2021
Is paying ransomware the worst strategy?
Subscribe to our newsletter
