14 DAY TRIAL // Fast food restaurant chain KFC is the latest victim of the hackers, after its own loyalty program called Colonel’s Club got hacked earlier this week.
KFC has already confirmed the breach, explaining that only a small number of accounts were actually accessed by hackers and no personal information was stolen. The company, however, is recommending users to reset passwords as soon as possible, and in case the same password is being used for other accounts online, to change it there too.
There’s no confirmation that emails were actually exposed during the breach, and the firm told ITV that only 30 of its 1.2 million accounts were actually targeted.
To make sure that members are protected, KFC sent a warning email to everyone, recommending a password reset just to be on the safe side.
“Our monitoring systems have found a small number of Colonel’s Club accounts may have been compromised as a result of our website being targeted. Whilst it’s unlikely you have been impacted, we advise that you change your password as a precaution. If you use the same email address and password across other services, you should also reset them, just to be safe,” KFC said.
New security measures to protect accounts
Furthermore, the firm adds that it is also “introducing additional security measures to further safeguard our members’ accounts and to stop this kind of thing happening again,” without going into details on these new security measures.
The Colonel’s Club is a loyalty program belonging to KFC that allows members to collect so-called Chicken Stamps, which can then be exchanged for a number of rewards, including meals in KFC restaurants. According to the company itself, there are more than 1 million registered users right now.
Mobile apps that provide customers access to the Colonel’s Club are also available for Android and iOS, and users are recommended to change their passwords no matter how they connect to their accounts.