Don’t trade your email for that Big Mac coupon! McDonald’s has warned customers to keep an eye out for signs of identity theft after one of its marketing services partners (Arc Worldwide) was hacked.
Arc Worldwide managed the fast food chain’s database of customer names, emails, addresses, phone numbers, and other basic information. Luckily, no credit card or social security numbers were in the compromised database, but hackers could use the email listing to send fake or bad mail to customers.
“That email service provider has advised that its computer systems recently were accessed by an unauthorized third party, and that information, including information that you provided to McDonald™s, may have been accessed by that unauthorized third party,” said McDonald’s.
It is unknown how many accounts have been compromised, but it only affects those who have directly given their contact information to McDonald’s. All affected individuals should have received a warning email. “In the event that you are contacted by someone claiming to be from McDonald’s asking for personal or financial information, do not respond and instead immediately contact us at the number below so we can contact the authorities,” said the company, which has notified law enforcement officials who are investigating the incident. The number to call is 1-800-244-6227.
This is the second story today where user data has been compromised. Earlier today, we reported that Gawker was hacked and taken over by attackers for a period of time over the weekend. Unfortunately that attack resulted in 1.5 million user passwords, emails, and usernames coming into the hands of hackers, who may or may not be able to unencrypt the data. Luckily, there are no passwords in the Arc Worldwide / McDonald’s list.[source]
0 comments:
Post a Comment