Panda Restaurant Group, the parent company of Panda Express, Panda Inn and Hibachi-San, has disclosed a data breach after hackers breached its corporate systems in March and stole the personal information of an unknown number of its associates.
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Panda Express is the largest Chinese fast food chain in the United States, with sales of over $3 billion and 47,000 associates working in 2,300 branches.
The company discovered a data security breach on March 10, 2024, which affected some of its corporate systems, but left in-store systems, operations , and visitor experience unaffected.
“The incident only affected current and former partner data. No guest data was involved in this incident,” a Panda Restaurant spokesperson said of the breach.
Upon detecting the incident, Panda secured its digital environment, activated remediation and recovery efforts, and launched a thorough investigation in collaboration with third-party cyber and law enforcement agencies to determine the nature and extent of the breach.
“After a thorough investigation, we have determined that certain information held in our corporate systems was accessed by an unauthorized entity between March 7 and 11, 2024,” said in notification letters sent to affected individuals.
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According to information filed with the Office of the Attorney General of Maine, the information disclosed by the breach at Panda Restaurant includes the names of the affected individuals or other personally identifying information and driver's license numbers or ID numbers. Panda has not yet disclosed the total number of individuals whose personal data was leaked or stolen in the incident.
"We continue to work with law enforcement who are conducting an active investigation into the unauthorized actor responsible for this incident," the company added.
«Panda has also implemented additional technical safeguards to further enhance the security of the information we hold and help prevent similar events in the future.».
A representative of the Panda Restaurant Group has not yet responded to a request for additional details regarding the incident, including the total number of victims and whether the attackers have demanded ransom.
See also: HPE: Investigating allegations of new data breach
How can businesses protect their data from breaches?
Businesses can protect their data from breaches, such as in the case of Panda Restaurant, by implementing information security strategies. This can include deploying advanced security solutions, such as intrusion prevention systems and antivirus detection software. Additionally, businesses can enforce security policies that require employees to follow best practices, such as regularly changing passwords and avoiding the use of insecure Wi‑Fi networks. Training staff on data security is also of vital importance. Personnel must stay informed about the latest threats and ways to defend against them. Businesses can also use encryption to protect sensitive data.
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Source: bleepingcomputer
