Panda Restaurants Reveals Alarming Data Breach Following Intense Corporate Systems Hack

Image: Coolcaesar (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Imagine this: you’re enjoying a delicious meal at your favorite Panda Express restaurant, blissfully unaware that a data breach just occurred within the parent company, Panda Restaurant Group. This breach affected not only Panda Express, but also Panda Inn, and Hibachi-San, compromising their corporate systems in March and stealing the personal information of an unknown number of associates.

As the largest Chinese fast food chain in the United States, with over $3 billion in sales and 47,000 associates working in 2,300 branches, Panda Express is a household name. So when they discovered a data security breach on March 10, 2024, which only impacted their corporate systems and left in-store systems, operations, and guest experience unaffected, they took immediate action.

Thankfully, the incident only impacted current and former associate data, leaving guest data untouched. As soon as the breach was detected, Panda Restaurant Group secured its environment, activated remediation and recovery efforts, and initiated a thorough investigation with the help of third-party cybersecurity experts and law enforcement agencies to establish the nature and extent of the breach.

After a thorough investigation, it was determined that certain information maintained on their corporate systems was accessed by unauthorized actors between March 7-11, 2024. With the support of third-party experts, Panda Restaurant Group then began a thorough review of the affected data to identify the specific information and individuals impacted.

Unknown number of affected people

While the exact number of individuals affected by the breach has yet to be disclosed, information filed with the Office of the Maine Attorney General reveals that the exposed data includes affected peoples’ names or other personal identifiers, as well as their driver’s license numbers or non-driver identification card numbers.

Panda Restaurant Group continues to work with law enforcement, who are conducting an active investigation into the unauthorized actors responsible for this incident. In response to the breach, Panda has implemented additional technical safeguards to further enhance the security of information in their possession and to help prevent similar events from happening in the future.

As of now, a Panda Restaurant Group spokesperson has yet to reply to requests for additional details regarding the incident, including the total number of affected people and if the attackers have made any ransom demands.

So, what does this all mean for you? It’s a stark reminder that cybersecurity is an ever-present concern in today’s digital world. Every organization, no matter how big or small, must take the necessary steps to protect their data and the personal information of their employees and customers.

Let this be a wake-up call: don’t wait until it’s too late to take action. Contact us today to learn more about how you can safeguard your organization from cyber threats and keep coming back for more valuable insights and advice.