A data breach suffered by Signature Systems, a company that provides point-of-sale (PoS) services for restaurants, has affected hundreds of Jimmy John’s stores and other establishments.
Last week, sandwich restaurant chain Jimmy John’s reported that some of its customers’ credit and debit card data was compromised after a malicious actor stole login credentials from the company’s PoS vendor and used them to remotely access PoS systems at 216 stores. The attackers reportedly had access to payment systems between June 16, 2014 and September 5, 2014.
Jimmy John’s did not name the vendor in its statement, but Brian Krebs, who first broke the news back in July, learned that it was Signature Systems, a firm based in Newtown, Pennsylvania. In a notice published on its website last week, Signature Systems admitted that they were the ones responsible for the Jimmy John’s incident.
“We have determined that an unauthorized person gained access to a user name and password that Signature Systems used to remotely access POS systems. The unauthorized person used that access to install malware designed to capture payment card data from cards that were swiped through terminals in certain restaurants. The malware was capable of capturing the cardholder’s name, card number, expiration date, and verification code from the magnetic stripe of the card,” Signature Systems stated.
According to the company, the breach affected not only 216 Jimmy John’s stores, but also 108 other smaller restaurants from across the United States. Signature Systems said it learned of the breach on July 30, and cleaned up the malware from most of the affected locations by August 5. The malware was removed from Jimmy John’s systems by September 5, but in some cases, the threats were only completely removed from all devices by mid-September.
The company is advising customers who used their payment cards at one of the affected locations to keep a close eye on their account statements for any fraudulent transactions. Signature Systems is confident that the attack has been blocked and reassures people that they can now safely use their cards at the impacted restaurants.
In a similar incident, Goodwill International customers had their payment cards compromised after the company’s payment processor had its systems breached. Following an investigation, the company, C&K Systems, determined that the attackers had access to its infrastructure for more than a year.