Golden Corral has experienced a data breach that impacted thousands of employees and former employees. The incident was discovered in mid-August when an unauthorized party was able to access the Raleigh, North Carolina-based company’s IT network, providing the party with access to sensitive information, including names and Social Security numbers.
The company filed a notice of data breach with the Attorney General of Maine after the discovery. According to that file, the network disruption to Golden Corral’s corporate systems occurred between Aug. 11 and Aug. 15, 2023. The company sent data breach letters to anyone impacted by the incident earlier this month.
In a statement, a Golden Corral spokesperson said the company promptly launched an investigation after learning about the security incident. That investigation, “determined that certain corporate operational information related to current and former employees, as well as dependents, were potentially impacted from August 11, 2023, to August 15, 2023.
“Due to protocols in place, customer data was not impacted as part of this incident. We have been communicating with federal law enforcement authorities throughout the investigation. Golden Corral treats our responsibility to safeguard the information entrusted to us as an utmost priority. As such, we responded promptly to this incident and have been working diligently to provide notice of the incident to those potentially impacted,” the spokesperson continued.
The company is providing 24 months of complimentary access to credit monitoring and identity restoration services out of an abundance of caution.
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, 2023 generated a record number of compromises since the center began keeping track 18 years ago, and by a wide margin. Nearly 11% of all public companies were compromised in 2023. The number of organizations impacted has jumped by more than 2,600% since 2018. Among the restaurant companies breached in 2023 were Chick-fil-A and Five Guys, while Yum Brands experienced a ransomware attack in the United Kingdom.
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]