Breach Brief – Earl Enterprises

Published On April 2, 2019 | By Tom Huskerson | Breach Briefs

Earl Enterprises, owners of Buca di Beppo and Planet Hollywood restaurant chains, reported a 10-month long data hack may have exposed customer payment card information. Other restaurants owned by the company include, Bertucci’s, Chicken Guy, Seaside on the Pier, Cafe Hollywood, Mixology, Tequila Taqueria and Earl of Sandwich.

According to Earl Enterprises, the breach affects customers who visited various locations of Buca di Beppo, Earl of Sandwich, Planet Hollywood, Chicken Guy, Mixology or Tequila Taqueria restaurants between May 23, 2018, and March 18, 2019. Online orders using third party services are not affected.

Malicious software, installed on its point-of-sale (POS) machines captured card numbers, expiration dates and, in some cases, cardholder names.

Although the number of customers affected has not been released by the company Krebs on Security reported as many as 2 million credit and debit cards numbers used at Earl Enterprises restaurants were being sold on the dark web.

Krebs also reported that it appears the breach hit nearly all 67 Buca di Beppo locations in the U.S. but only a handful of the 31 other restaurant location located in New York city, Las Vegas, Orlando and Disney Springs, FL and Los Angeles.

According to Al Pascual, head of fraud and security at Javelin Strategy and Research, there is a bit of good news. According to Pascual it’s tougher for criminals to use the card data because of the widespread use of chip cards. However, there is still the possibility of some customers falling victim to card not present fraud that is often done to make online purchases.

If you visited any of the restaurant chains you can use the company’s online tool to determine if the specific location you visited was compromised. Should you discover your location was compromised set up alerts on your card. Also carefully monitor your credit and debit statements for unusual charges you did not make. Notify your bank or credit card issuer if you find suspicious activity and request a new card and account number.

If you used a debit card makes sure you report any suspicious activity immediately to limit your liability.

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About The Author

Tom Huskerson Bio Born in Richmond Virginia Tom Huskerson is a military veteran who settled in California after his discharge. Tom attended Santa Barbara City College where he began his writing career as a campus reporter. He worked as an intern news reporter for the Santa Barbara News-Press writing feature stories before moving on to San Francisco. At San Francisco State University Tom studied broadcast communications and began to focus on the Internet. He completed his graduate thesis on Internet advertising. Tom was the first student to ever focus on the Internet as a graduate student at San Francisco State University. After graduation he went to work for Zona Research in California’s Silicone Valley. As a research associate Tom supported senior analyst writing on the latest developments in the Internet industry. During the dot com boom Tom worked for several web businesses as a market researcher and analyst. As a writer and researcher Tom has authored various technical works including a training program for Charles Schwab security. Other projects included professional presentations on workplace violence and hiring security contractors. Tom has also written both fiction and non-fiction works and blogging for a travel website. He has published two books of short stories and completed two novels. Tom is the owner of Scribe of Life Literature and EbonyCandle.com. Tom is not the chief editor for the OnTechStreet. com. A news and information blog that focuses on tech news for African-Americans. The blog is the result of his desire to inform the African American community of the dangers and benefits of the cyber age. In his blog Tom reports on information security, new and analysis, scams and hoaxes, legal happenings and various topics that arise from the age of information. Tom believes that technology is a necessary tool for black people and they should know what is happening. Tom writes believing that techno speak is for the professional and that valuable information can be communicated using plain language. As a result he has embraced the motto, Less Tech, More Knowledge.

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