Chick-fil-A probes possible data breach

Officials with Chick-fil-A said Wednesday that the company and an IT contractor are investigating a possible data breach.

In a prepared statement, Chick-fil-A spokeswoman Carrie Kurlander said the company has received reports of unusual activity involving payment cards used at a few of its fast food restaurants.

{mosads}“We want to assure our customers we are working hard to investigate these events and will share additional facts as we are able to do so,” she said. 

The fast food company said customers would not be held liable for any fraudulent charges on their accounts. Either the company or the bank that issued the card will be responsible.  

“If our customers are impacted, we will arrange for free identity protection services, including credit monitoring,” Kurlander said.

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) took the news of a possible breach as an opportunity to push for national data security and breach notification standards for retailers. 

“Unfortunately, 2014 has turned out to be the year of the data breach and now we have the latest report of yet another retail data breach,” said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. 

“Congress must make passing a national data security standard for retailers a top priority when it returns next week.”

NAFCU said the Target data breach in 2013 caused financial institutions to lose nearly $500 million in card replacement costs and other expenses.

Other major data breaches have occurred in the last year at Home Depot, Michaels, Bebe stores, AOL, Jimmy John’s, Staples, Kmart, Dairy Queen, Sally Beauty Supply, Supervalu, Neiman Marcus and P.F. Chang’s restaurants.