After retail and hospitality, food and beverage is the third most-hacked industry in America. With millions of unique transactions logged by hungry customers every day, restaurants are uniquely vulnerable to data breaches.
From low-security establishments with 10 to 100 employees, to nationwide franchises where one breach can compromise the whole system, foodservice is a goldmine for industrious hackers. With data breaches costing thousands or even millions of dollars, and a whopping 70 percent of food and beverage companies going out of business within a year of an attack, it certainly pays to be proactive.
As Wendy’s learned this year during a point of sale (POS) hack that compromised payment data at more than 1,000 of its franchise locations, failing to secure customer information can result in a loss of reputation, government fines, lawsuits, and millions of dollars in liability claims, credit monitoring, fraud investigations and infrastructure spending.
Fortunately, many restaurants and foodservice businesses can avoid the perils of hacking if they take proactive steps to secure their customers’ payment data. Check out our infographic on foodservice breaches across multiple channels and how companies can identify – and remediate – weak points.
