Key Takeaways from The Recent McDonald’s Data Breach

Key-Takeaways-from-The-Recent-McDonald's-Data-Breach

McDonald’s, one of the world’s largest food franchises, has been added to the list of high-profile companies that have experienced a data breach in the last month. Hackers stole data from its databases in the United States, South Korea, and Taiwan. Investigations revealed that corporate data had been compromised in these locations. To further investigate, the company employed private experts to analyze illegal activity on the security and intelligence system triggered by a particular incident. Fortunately, the McDonald’s data breach was terminated a week after it was discovered.

As per one of the biggest food chains in the world, the hack exposed certain business contact information for U.S. workers and franchisees along with some store information such as seating capacity and play area square footage. According to the corporation, no consumer data was compromised in this area, and the employee data disclosed was neither sensitive nor personal. Nonetheless, the company warned workers and franchisees to be on the lookout for phishing emails and exercise caution when soliciting information.

On the other hand, intruders acquired delivery customers’ emails, phone numbers, and addresses in South Korea and Taiwan. According to McDonald’s, hackers obtained employee information, including names and contact information. The company said that the amount of data exposed was minimal but did not specify how many individuals were compromised. Luckily, the attack did not contain any financial information from any of the customers.

 

LIFARS Computer Security Incident Response Team (LISIRT) will effectively manage data breach response, examine digital evidence and compromised systems for forensic artifacts of threat actor’s actions and lateral movement. We will also determine the scope of data exfiltration, including social security numbers, driver licenses, health records, or any other sensitive data.

 

Moreover, the investigators identified South Africa and Russia as possible origins for the attacks, and the company has said that it already alerted those divisions of any potential illegal access to their database. The fast-food company said they would use the study results and feedback from security resources to explore methods to improve their current security procedures in the future.

McDonald’s commended its investments in cybersecurity in enabling the business to detect and react to the attack so promptly, although it took the business one week to stop the illegal data access. The company also admitted that it needed to strengthen its cybersecurity network. Moreover, there was no ransomware involved in the assault, and McDonald’s continue to advise customers to be wary of possible phishing attempts.

What Can We Learn from McDonald’s Data Breach?

The McDonald’s data breach was another high-profile cyberattack, its excellent practices demonstrate the significance of safeguarding data and having a robust cybersecurity incident response strategy. In 2021 alone, several major corporations have been the victims of catastrophic breaches, usually triggered by old, legacy software. These events pushed businesses to enhance their cybersecurity.

McDonald’s fared better than many other companies this year. That is due, in part, to its investment in cybersecurity measures. The assault might have been considerably worse, but the business recognized the need to protect itself from prospective hackers. It made substantial improvements in informative security policies, which proved to be a good ground for the company’s response to the recent assault.

Furthermore, it is essential to note that transparency, preparation, a unified communications strategy, and perception are critical to companies preparing for and managing a cyber data breach. The impact of breaches has highlighted complex issues about how businesses safeguard corporate and consumer data in the face of more sophisticated cybersecurity assaults. That is essential in particular to the rising privacy concerns in the digital age.

 

 

References:

1. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcdonalds-data-breach-south-korea-taiwan/
2. https://www.itpro.co.uk/security/data-breaches/359862/personal-data-exposed-in-mcdonalds-data-breach
3. https://www.wsj.com/articles/mcdonalds-hit-by-data-breach-in-south-korea-taiwan-11623412800