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McDonald’s hit by data breach in South Korea and Taiwan

The company said it quickly identified and contained the incident and a thorough investigation was carried out.
The company said it quickly identified and contained the incident and a thorough investigation was carried out.

McDonald’s has become the latest company to be hit by a data breach after unauthorised activity on its network exposed the personal data of some customers in South Korea and Taiwan.

The company said it quickly identified and contained the incident and a thorough investigation was carried out.

“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,” the burger chain said.

McDonald’s said its investigation determined that only South Korea and Taiwan had customer personal data accessed, and it would be taking steps to notify regulators and the customers who may be impacted. No customer payment information was exposed.

McDonald’s said it will look at the investigation’s findings, coupled with input from security resources, to identify ways to enhance its existing security measures.

Businesses across various sectors are being targeted by cybercriminals, including some high-profile cases in recent weeks.

On Wednesday, JBS SA, the world’s largest meat processing company, revealed that it had paid the equivalent of 11 million dollars (£7.8 million) to hackers who broke into its computer system last month.

Colonial Pipeline, which transports about half of the fuel consumed on the US East Coast, last month paid a ransom of 75 bitcoin — then valued at roughly £3 million — in hopes of getting its system back online.

On Monday the Justice Department announced that it had recovered most of the ransom payment.