American restaurant chain Golden Corral says 2023 breach impacted 183k employees

American restaurant chain Golden Corral said that it experienced a significant cyber security incident in 2023 that compromised the sensitive personal information of more than 183,000 individuals.

 

Headquartered in North Carolina, Golden Corral is known for its all-you-can-eat buffet and grills. The restaurant chain has close to 300 outlets spread across 43 U.S. states and Puerto Rico.

 

Recently, Golden Corral said in a press release that on August 15 last year, it experienced a data security incident that caused a “temporary disruption to its corporate operations.” The company immediately launched an internal investigation, with assistance from third party cyber security experts, to understand the nature and scope of the incident and “restore impacted computer systems to operability.”

 

“Through the investigation, Golden Corral learned that an unauthorised actor accessed its systems and acquired certain data relating to current and former employees and beneficiaries between August 11, 2023 until August 15, 2023,” the restaurant chain said.

 

The compromised data included employee, dependent and beneficiary names, Social Security numbers, financial account information, driver’s licence numbers, medical information, usernames, passwords, and health insurance information.  

 

Golden Corral told the Office of the Maine Attorney General through a data security incident notification that the data security incident has affected at least 183,272 individuals.

 

“Golden Corral treats its responsibility to safeguard the information entrusted to it as an utmost priority. As such, Golden Corral responded promptly to this incident and have been working diligently to provide an accurate and complete notice of the incident. 

 

“Golden Corral’s immediate response to this event also included prompt and continued correspondence with federal law enforcement authorities,” the restaurant chain added.

 

While Golden Corral did not find any evidence of the compromised data being misused, the possibility for the same cannot be ruled out. It has urged all affected individuals to remain vigilant, review their credit reports and financial statements on a regular basis, and report suspicious transactions to relevant law enforcement authorities.

 

It is also offering two years of complimentary credit monitoring and Identity Protection Services through Experian to all the individuals affected by the data breach.

 

According to Bloomberg Law, Ashley Hunt, a Kentucky resident who began working for Golden Corral in 2007, has filed a lawsuit against the company in the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. 

 

Hunt has accused the restaurant chain of negligence and failure to protect employees’ sensitive personal data and for not maintaining adequate network security that resulted in the exposure of her full name and Social Security number.