Company offers help to consumers whose information may have been stolen by hackers
Habersham County’s two Wendy’s restaurants are among 34 in Georgia possibly affected by a company-wide data breach. According to the fast food chain’s corporate website, hackers used malware to steal credit and debit card information from customers.
The company released a list of 1,025 potentially affected locations and Clarkesville and Cornelia are among them (see below). Other Northeast Georgia locations include Athens, Blairsville, Blue Ridge, Dahlonega, Gainesville, and Toccoa.
“We sincerely apologize to anyone who has been inconvenienced as a result of these highly sophisticated, criminal cyberattacks.” ~ Todd Penegor, President & CEO, The Wendy’s Company
Data breach traced back to 2015
The data breach was first discovered in February. In May, the company confirmed it had found evidence of malware on restaurant registers.
“We believe that both criminal cyberattacks resulted from service providers’ remote access credentials being compromised, allowing access – and the ability to deploy malware – to some franchisees’ point-of-sale systems,” explains company president and CEO Todd Penegor.
In a press release issued Thursday, Penegor says it’s believed the malware may have been deployed on some franchisee systems starting as far back as late fall 2015.
The company says the malware has since been disabled.
Wendy’s offers free fraud monitoring services
Wendy’s is offering one year of complimentary fraud consultation and identity restoration services to customers who used a payment card at any restaurant location on the list.
To register for your free fraud protection, call (866) 779-0485 weekdays between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. CST.
Visit www.wendys.com/notice complete details.
