Fans of restaurants like Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Saltgrass Steak and McCormick & Schmick's should check their credit information: Owner company Landry's and Golden Nugget Casinos have confirmed payment card data breaches at its venues, during three periods between May 2014 and last December.
The exposed information includes cardholder names, card numbers, expiration dates and internal verification codes. Findings from the investigation show that criminal attackers were able to install malware on payment card processing devices that lifted the data from the magnetic swipe stripe of payment cards.
The companies have begun notifying potential victims, and has released a list of restaurants, beverage outlets, spas, entertainment destinations, managed properties and other establishments where payment card data may have been exposed.
Locations were affected at different times during one or both of the following periods: from May 4, 2014 through March 15, 2015 and from May 5, 2015 through December 3, 2015. In addition, the at-risk timeframe for a small percentage of locations includes the period from March 16, 2015 through May 4, 2015.
Company officials said that they will continue to work with law enforcement in investigating the breach, and said that they have taken steps to improve payment security measures. Enhanced security measures include end-to-end encryption, and the companies are also working closely with payment card networks to identify potentially affected cards.
In December, Landry's began investigating reports of unauthorized charges on payment cards visitors used at some of its properties. Company officials said at the time that the company that processes card payments notified Landry's of the breach.
Landry's owns restaurants nationwide and related company Golden Nugget Casinos has venues in Atlantic City, Biloxi, Lake Charles, Laughlin, Nev.; and Las Vegas. Restaurant brands include Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Saltgrass Steak House, Willie G's, McCormick & Schmick's, and Morton's The Steakhouse. Other entertainment venues include the Aquarium in downtown Houston, the Kemah Boardwalk and the Pleasure Pier in Galveston.
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