“Findings from the investigation show that criminal attackers were able to install a program on payment card processing devices at certain restaurants, food and beverage outlets, spas, entertainment destinations and managed properties,” a company statement read.

The malware picked off cardholder name, card number, expiration date and internal verification information from cards' magnetic strip data as it was being routed through affected systems.

Landry's said the breaches occurred primarily from May 4, 2014 through March 15, 2015 and from May 5, 2015 through Dec. 3, 2015. In addition, the at-risk timeframe for a small percentage of locations included the time period of March 16, 2015 through May 4, 2015.

Attackers typically exploit vulnerabilities in point-of-sale devices to install malicious software to steal credit and debit card data that contains personally identifiable information.

The company also said in a statement that it has deployed end-to-end encryption and other security enhancements to prevent similar incidents from occurring. It urged customers to remain vigilant with their card statements and immediately report irregularities.

“If you used a card at an affected location during its at-risk window, we recommend that you remain vigilant to the possibility of fraud by reviewing your payment card statements for any unauthorized activity,” the statement warned. “You should immediately report any unauthorized charges to your card issuer because payment card rules generally provide that cardholders are not responsible for unauthorized charges reported in a timely manner.”

Brad Cyprus, chief of security and compliance at the Houston-based cybersecurity company Netsurion, weighed in on the breach, stating, “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.”

Recently, the fast food chain Wendy's began investigating a possible credit card breach at various East Coast and Midwest restaurant locations in response to fraud reports from various sources within the financial industry.

The high number of transactions that take place during any given day makes restaurants an easy target for credit card hacks, Dodi Glenn, vice president, cybersecurity at the Sioux City, Iowa-based PC Pitstop, pointed out.

“POS systems have a lot of security vulnerabilities, making it very easy for hackers to steal credit card information,” he said.