McDonalds says data breach targeted South Korea and Taiwan operations

McDonald’s said that it was the target of a data breach affecting its markets in South Korea and Taiwan.

The burger chain told The Hill in a statement that it worked with third parties to conduct an investigation to identify unauthorized activity on its network.

The company said it was able to quickly close off access after the identification, but “a small number of files were accessed, some of which contained personal data.”

“Based on our investigation, only Korea and Taiwan had customer personal data accessed, and they will be taking steps to notify regulators and customers listed in these files,” the company said.

“No customer payment information was contained in these files.”

The company said in the coming days, additional markets will take steps to address files that contained employee personal data.

The hack was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which also noted that the company’s U.S. markets were targeted.

According to the newspaper, the breach disclosed business contact information for U.S. employees and franchisees, as well as some information about restaurants.

McDonald’s is the latest high-profile company to disclose that it was targeted by hackers in recent weeks.

Colonial Pipeline, which supplies about 45 percent of the East Coast’s fuel, was forced to shut down operations last month after it was the target of a cyberattack. The temporary shutdown led to panic buying, which caused fuel shortages across the East Coast.

The company’s CEO, Joseph Blount, later revealed that the company paid the cybercriminals, DarkSide, the equivalent of $4.4 million in bitcoin on the day of the breach.

Most recently, meat supplier JBS USA was forced to shut down its beef plants after being targeted by hackers. The company revealed on Wednesday that it paid $11 million in ransom.