Anyone fancying a fast chew to eat within the UK earlier this week could have discovered their decisions extra restricted than traditional on the excessive avenue.
Nearly 300 quick meals eating places, together with branches of KFC and Pizza Hut, had been pressured to shut following a ransomware assault in opposition to mother or father firm Yum! Brands.
In a assertion dated 18 January 2023, Yum! confirmed that unnamed ransomware had impacted a few of its IT infrastructure, and that knowledge had been exfiltrated by hackers from its servers.
However, though an investigation into the safety breach continues, the corporate mentioned that it had seen no proof that buyer particulars had been uncovered.
“The Company is actively engaged in absolutely restoring affected methods, which is anticipated to be largely full within the coming days. Although knowledge was taken from the Company’s community and an investigation is ongoing, at this stage, there is no such thing as a proof that buyer databases had been stolen.”
It’s not clear from the mother or father firm’s assertion, however it’s attainable that UK branches of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell had been closed for sooner or later on the insistence of Yum! as a precautionary measure, whereas the size of the breach was investigated.
Yum! says that it deployed “containment measures reminiscent of taking sure methods offline and implementing enhanced monitoring expertise” after it detected the assault, and that impacted eating places have now returned to regular operation.
What has not but been made public, and should not even be recognized to these investigating the breach, is how lengthy hackers might need had entry to the corporate’s IT infrastructure, and the way they could have been in a position to achieve entry to what ought to have been a safe system.
Yum! has additionally not shared whether or not it has acquired a ransom demand from its attackers, and if it did how a lot ransom was demanded, and whether or not it will be ready to barter with its extortionists.
On the face of issues, the corporate behind manufacturers like KFC and Pizza Hut may make a tasty snack for malicious hackers hungry to feast on one other ransomware sufferer. Yum! operates 53,000 eating places world wide, incomes $1.3 billion internet revenue yearly.