Chick-Fil-A's App Once Again Gave Away Your Data
Like most other fast-food chains, Chick-fil-A has a good chunk of its customer base using its mobile app to place orders and earn rewards. However, each customer who downloads and uses a fast food app — or any app, for that matter — puts their personal data at risk.
According to Cybernews, more than 1.4 billion records were exposed in 2022 alone. Granted, breaches of fast-food apps won't necessarily do as much damage as, say, apps for finances or healthcare; but it can still be scary to hear your favorite chain be accused of covering up said breaches. It can be even scarier when those accusations are confirmed.
After Chick-fil-A app users raised concerns in early January 2023, the chain launched an investigation into "fraudulent" and "suspicious" activity, per Fox Business. Unfortunately, Chick-fil-A released a statement on Twitter two months later that indeed confirmed customers' fears. So how bad was this latest breach?
'Less than 2%' of Chick-fil-A app users affected by breach
On a positive note, if there is one when it comes to data breaches, less than 2% of Chick-fil-A's app users were affected by the latest bout of suspicious activity. According to Nation's Restaurant News, some of the data breached included bank information, but we can only assume names, email addresses, and phone numbers were also part of the mix.
Sadly, Chick-fil-A is not the only chain to face data breaches on such a large scale. In 2017, for instance, an attack on Sonic's systems led to a similar exposure of customers' bank information. Per Scott+Scott, our beloved Wendy's was even sued for $50 million the year previous for a breach spanning five months and compromising 18 million payment cards. Yikes.
Customers are being encouraged to reset their passwords whether or not they were personally affected by the breach. Another good rule of thumb is to not use the same password for multiple sites, as this can lead to further data breaches. Order yourself some Chick-fil-A waffle fries and stay safe!