Greg's Corner

Chipotle malware attack exposed customers’ card info

Recently, restaurant chain Chipotle announced they experienced a massive data breach that affected numerous locations nationwide. If you visited the restaurant between March 24 and April 18 of this year and paid with a debit or credit card, the odds are that your card information has been exposed to hackers and identity thieves.

This is just another incident in a long series of incidents that have plagued Chipotle over the past couple of years. In 2015, Chipotle was the subject of a number of food safety issues that involved outbreaks of E. coli, salmonella, and norovirus.

What makes the Chipotle breach different from most large consumer data breaches is that Chipotle’s card reader system was infected with malware. While Chipotle has been upfront with news about the breach, they haven’t said how the malware found its way into their system. Usually, a user has to open an infected attachment in an email or visit a malware infected website for it to spread among the system. That could lead one to ask if the card reader system is attached to other easily compromised systems within the corporate information chain.

Chipotle has said their card readers are currently free of malware, but without disclosing how they became infected in the first place it could lead customers to believe they’re still not secure and they’re private information is still at risk.