Chili’s is reporting some less than hot news.
The restaurant chain’s parent company, Brinker International, announced last week some outlets were “impacted by a data incident, which may have resulted in unauthorized access or acquisition of your payment card data.”
Chili’s, which has more than 1,600 locations worldwide, did not disclose which locations or how many diners might have been affected, but that it believes “the data incident was limited to between March – April 2018.”
The breach involved malware being used “to gather payment card information including credit or debit card numbers as well as cardholder names from our payment-related systems for in-restaurant purchases at certain Chili’s restaurants.”
Company officials also said they are “working with third-party forensic experts to conduct an extensive investigation to confirm the nature and scope of this incident.”
The officials said law enforcement authorities have been notified and “we are working to provide fraud resolution and credit monitoring services” for those whose information may have been obtained through the breach.
The company suggests Chili’s customers monitor their bank and credit card statements for accuracy and contact their banks if there is any suspicious activity.
Data breaches have been all too common in today’s cybersphere. A series of notable ― and massive ― data breaches occurred last year. Equifax, Uber, the Dallas emergency siren network and state election systems were just a few of the targets of successful hacks. Compromised data included driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers and to financial information.