Customer data has been revealed to be hacked at 395 stores of Dairy Queen, the latest retailer to be hit by a security breach this year, CNN Money reported.
"We deeply regret any inconvenience this incident may cause. Our customers are our top priority and we are committed to working with our franchise owners to address the issue," read a statement on the retailer's website.
Between August and October, a malware intrusion granted hackers access to customer names, credit and debit card numbers and expiration dates, the ice cream and fast food chain said Thursday, adding that email addresses, card PIN numbers and Social Security numbers remained private and had not been stolen.
Orange Julius, one of International Dairy Queen's ventures, had one of its location breached as well, the Associated Press reported.
A malware called Backoff was reported to be responsible in hacking the ice cream stand operator's payment card systems through "third-party vendors' compromised account credentials." The company confirmed that the malware problem had been "contained."
Meanwhile, customers, whose payment data was part of any hacked restaurants, were offered "free identity repair services" for one year by the Edina, Minnesota-based company, which is owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
"This has become the standard response for companies trying to burnish their public image in the wake of a card breach, even though credit monitoring services do nothing to help consumers detect or prevent fraud on existing accounts - such as credit and debit cards," according to KerbsonSecurity.
With about 4,500 franchised outlets in the United States, a full list of affected-locations can be found here.
If your card has been hacked, call your bank or card issuer and take the usual precautions.
Earlier this month, JPMorgan announced that 76 million of the company's customers had been hacked. Over the past year, cyberattacks on customer payment card data have also been carried out on various major retailers, including Home Depot, Target and Michaels and Neiman Marcus, as well as the restaurant chain P.F. Chang's.
