Restaurants

McDonald's says South Korea and Taiwan operations hacked

Key Points
  • McDonald's said a data breach in South Korea and Taiwan has exposed some customer, employee information.
  • The company has hired external consultants to investigate unauthorized activity on an internal security system, with the investigators discovering the data breach in certain markets.
  • The breach is the latest in a series of attacks by cybercriminals on global companies.

In this article

Employees of McDonald's serve a BTS meal on May 27, 2021 in Seoul, South Korea. McDonald's has released a new celebrity meal 'BTS Meal' in collaboration with BTS on May 27, 2021 in South Korea.
Chung Sung-Jun | Getty Images

McDonald's, the world's largest burger chain, said on Friday that a data breach in South Korea and Taiwan has exposed some customer and employee information, making it the latest global company to be targeted by cybercriminals.

The details of the breach in the two regions were the outcome of an investigation by external consultants following an unauthorized activity on the company's network.

"While we were able to close off access quickly after identification, our investigation has determined that a small number of files were accessed, some of which contained personal data," McDonald's said in a statement.

The company said it will take steps to notify regulators and customers listed in the files, which did not contain customer payment information.

Recent breaches by cybercriminals on hospitals and global companies including meat processor JBS and Colonial Pipeline oil have disrupted operations for hours, leading to worries of supply shortages.

Some companies have had to pay a ransom to gain control of their operations and restart production.

McDonald's said it would use the findings from the investigation to identify ways to improve its security measures.