Chili's Data Breach May Have Affected Long Island Diners

Information breaches seem to be a recurring problem these days, but they usually affect banks and credit card companies. But this time, hackers managed to steal credit and debit card information from diners at Chili's, the popular chain restaurant.

According to Brinker International, the Texas-based parent company of Chili's, the company discovered on May 11 that hackers had gained access to the restaurant's data and stolen the credit and debit card information of diners. With seven locations on Long Island, it's possible that diners here were affected.

"Based on the details of the issue currently uncovered, we believe that malware was used to gather payment card information including credit or debit card numbers as well as cardholder names from our payment-related systems for in-restaurant purchases at certain Chili's restaurants," Brinker International said in a statement.

Brinker said that, as of now, it seems the breach was limited to people who paid with a credit or debit card after dining at the chain in March or April of this year. Brinker said it hired an outside forensic data analysts to more accurately determine what data was stolen. The data stolen included credit and debit card numbers, as well as names.

Chili's has Long Island locations in Westbury, Bethpage, Farmingdale, East Northport, Bayshore, South Setauket and Holtsville.

Brinker said the breach only affected certain restaurants, but doesn't yet know which ones. The company said that diners don't need to cancel their credit cards, but should keep on eye on their statements to watch for any suspicious activity.

Photo via Shutterstock / Jonathan Weiss