British pub chain JD Wetherspoon is known for its drinks, but this unfortunate news may make customers drink to escape more than ever. The establishment has become an unfortunate victim in a recent cyber attack that was said to have occurred six months ago. According to JD Wetherspoon, the British drinking location had its data breached between June 15th and June 17th of this year but the company’s own CEO wasn’t notified about the data breach until November 6th — and even then, from a third-party webhosting site that once hosted the establishment’s site. Wetherspoon CEO John Hutson received the letter but it went into the company’s spam folder and wasn’t made known until December 1st.
JD Wetherspoon’s old website was the target of the breach, with 656,723 customers having their mobile phone numbers, names, email addresses, and dates of birth stolen. 100 customers who bought vouchers for the company before August 2014 had credit card and debit card details stolen, along with personal staff details registered before November 10, 2011 (not pertaining to any financial information or tax info).
JD Wetherspoon CEO John Hutson issued an apology to customers whose details fell victim to the cyber attack. “Unfortunately, hacking is becoming more and more sophisticated and widespread. We are determined to respond to this by increasing our efforts and investment in security and will be doing everything possible to prevent a recurrence.”
