Payment info exposed in Chili's 'data incident'

The chain's parent company says hackers may have used malware to steal some customers' payment information.

Your baby back ribs may have come with a side of credit card theft.

Chili’s Grill & Bar customers might have had their payment information exposed at certain restaurants, the casual dining chain’s parent company, Brinker International, disclosed on May 12, a day after learning of a “data incident.”

Brinker said it learned on May 11 that payment card information was compromised at some Chili’s locations. The incident that exposed the information was likely limited to March and April 2018, the company said, but it continues to “assess the scope” of what happened.

“We deeply value our relationships with our Guests and sincerely apologize to those who may have been affected,” Brinker said in a statement.

The company set up a website to provide updates as it learns more about the breach.

Brinker says it believes that hackers used malware to capture payment information from “payment-related systems” for in-store transactions at certain Chili’s locations.

The affected information includes credit or debit card numbers along with cardholder names. The company did not specify which of its locations were compromised or how many patrons were affected.

“We immediately activated our response plan upon learning of this incident,” Brinker said.

The company said that it has brought in third-party forensics experts to investigate the incident further and is cooperating with law enforcement.

Brinker says it is planning to offer fraud resolution and credit monitoring services to affected customers. It insists that it’s safe to use credit or debit cards at Chili’s moving forward but recommends that customers monitor their accounts to check for suspicious activity.

Government

• FBI officials say AI is bolstering adversaries, emphasizing need to focus on cyber basics, patching

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• Jail time for Maine child in 764 marks turning point in federal law enforcement

Technology

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

• The Collective Cyber Defense letter wrote your next vendor questionnaire

Threats

• Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Russian national extradited to US for alleged involvement in bank-account takeover scheme

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure