An Applebee’s franchisee has confirmed that some customers of its 167 restaurants may have had their credit or debit card information swiped by hackers in a breach of the operator’s POS system.
RMH Holdings stresses in an alert posted on its website that the break-in was limited to its restaurants and did not extend to the rest of the nearly-2,000-store Applebee’s system. It explains that malware was installed in its POS system, which serves only the RMH restaurants.
The franchisee also notes that the breach was limited to specific locations and dates, and invites customers to call for more information on whether their data was vulnerable.
The exposed information includes guests’ names, credit card numbers and expiration dates, and card verification codes.
The breach was discovered on Feb. 13. The website notice went live on March 2.
RMH said it has launched an investigation and is taking steps to avert a repeat of the problem.