Chick-fil-A investigating possible data breach

Atlanta -- The new year has brought news of a possible new data breach. Chick-fil-A acknowledged on Friday that it has received reports of potential “unusual activity” involving payment cards used at a few of its restaurants and that it was investigating whether a data breach had taken place.



“We take our obligation to protect customer information seriously, and we are working with leading IT security firms, law enforcement and our payment industry contacts to determine all of the facts,” the company said in a statement.



The fast-food company said it received the initial report late on Friday, Dec. 19. It reassured customers that they will not be liable for any fraudulent charges.



“Any fraudulent charges will be the responsibility of either Chick-fil-A or the bank that issued the card,” the company stated. “If our customers are impacted, we will arrange for free identity protection services, including credit monitoring.



Security blogger Brian Krebs said evidence of a data breach started to emerge in November. But banks started to pay attention in December when a credit-card association sent out an alert claiming that a breach may have started as early as September.



A number of high-profile retailers have suffered data breaches in the past 18 months, including Target, Home Depot, Michaels, and Neiman Marcus.