14 DAY TRIAL // A Chili’s Grill & Bar Restaurant from the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan has fallen in the hands of hackers who broke into their computer system, stealing credit card information.
According to Stars and Stripes, even though Chili's restaurants are placed in a number of locations, including three other military installations, the only location affected was the one in Yokosuka.
An investigation is underway to determine exactly when the hit occurred and how many other victims there might be. For now, base representatives claim that only 17 complaints have been recorded, some of which came from diner employees.
“Our equipment had a problem and some credit card information was stolen from customers and staff. We want our customers and staff to feel secure so we are only taking cash. We hope we will be able to take credit cards again soon,” revealed Ayumi Chiba, the restaurant’s manager.
The Chili's from Sasebo, another military base in Japan, is still accepting credit cards, but employees are instructed to handle them cautiously.
The company's payment system relies on servers located at each establishment, which communicate with the headquarters from the United States. Clearly, their network structure needs some improvements when it comes to security, but at least things didn't go too far.
Navy officials are urging all those who visited the Chili's from Yokosura, especially those who utilized their credit cards to make a payment, to check their statements for any discrepancies and immediately report them to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the involved repository.
We are clearly facing another situation in which bank account information is stolen and the victim has no knowledge or direct involvement in the malicious deed. This is yet again one of the situations where I find myself forced to advise everyone to take good care of their financial records and regularly check their bank accounts for suspicious activity.