Chick-Fil-A Is Investigating 'Potential Data Breach' of Credit Card Info

Next time you're craving a chicken sandwich, perhaps it's better to pay with cash. Chick-fil-A may be latest chain to fall victim to a credit card data breach, though the company is having a hard time admitting it. According to Gizmodo, Chick-fil-A acknowledges that it has "received reports of potential unusual activity involving payment cards used at a few of our restaurants."

Blogger Krebs on Security — the person who noticed breaches at other chains last year — believes that the alleged Chick-fil-A hack has comprised the credit and debit card information of at least 9,000 people. An anonymous banking source tells Krebs that the number is incredibly high: "9,000 customer cards is more than the total number of cards we had impacted in the [massive] Target breach."

For now, Chick-fil-A will only admit that there might have been a "potential data breach" and claims that they are investigating the manner. Krebs notes that locations in Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia appear to be the ones most affected.

This is far from the first time hackers have targeted massive chains for credit card information, which they then sell on black-market websites. In August it was revealed that 33 P.F. Chang's locations were affected by a security breach. To combat the situation, the company temporarily ceased using their credit card system and instead switched to using carbon copies for receipts. Dairy Queen was hacked in August and in September Jimmy John's confessed that it had also fallen victim to a massive credit card breach.