The Houston-based Landry's, Inc., which owns around 500 restaurant properties including Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Chart House and Rainforest Café, reported payment cards used at some of its eateries have been breached.
The company said it is investigating reports of unauthorized charges on certain payment cards used legitimately by customers at some locations. It is unclear how many of Landry's properties were affected.
"We immediately began an investigation after receiving these reports and have engaged a leading cybersecurity company to investigate this matter," the company said in a press release. "We are also working with our processor and payment card networks. We will not know the full scope of this incident until the investigation is completed, and we will work vigilantly to address any potential issues that may affect our customers."
In a blog post, cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs reported the problem appeared to start in May 2015 and may still be affecting some locations.
Krebs also reported restaurants are a prime target for credit card thieves, mainly because historically, they have not placed a huge emphasis on securing their payment systems. Attackers typically exploit vulnerabilities in point-of-sale devices to install malicious software that steals credit and debit card data.
"Cybercrime costs businesses more than $300 billion worldwide, and a majority of it is due to stolen credit cards or identity information – items of significant monetary value to a hacker," Brad Cyprus, chief of security and compliance at the Houston-based cybersecurity company Netsurion, said.
Paul Jespersen, vice president of emerging technologies at the Clifton, N.J.-based cybersecurity firm Comodo, added, "Cybercriminals innovate daily – creating new malware and tactics that allow them to breach systems and steal data. During the holidays, all the organizations that use point of sale systems and process payment data are especially targeted because so much credit card, personal and financial data passes through those systems, a goldmine for the cybercriminal."
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Roy Urrico
Roy W. Urrico specializes in articles about financial technology and services for Credit Union Times, as well as ghostwriting, copywriting, and case studies. Also: writer/editor of a semi-annual newsletter for Association for Financial Technology since 1997 and history projects funded by the U.S Interior Department, National Park Service and Warren County (N.Y.).
