Secure credit card information might have been compromised at two Connecticut Morton's restaurants during a massive data breach at Landry's restaurants and Golden Nugget Casinos nationwide.
Landry's released the list of restaurants on Friday that were affected at different times during one or both of the following periods, according to the company: May 4, 2014 through March 15, 2015 and from May 5, 2015 through December 3, 2015.
It's not clear if the Morton's restaurants in Hartford and Stamford were definitely affected because the locations closed before the investigation began and systems from the location were not available to examine.
The investigation into the security breach began in December after receiving reports of suspicious activity on customers’ cards that had been used at their establishments, according to the announcement.
Findings showed that hackers were able to install a program on payment card processing devices at certain restaurants, food and beverage outlets, spas, entertainment destinations, and managed properties.
“The program was designed to search for data from the magnetic stripe of payment cards that had been swiped (cardholder name, card number, expiration date and internal verification code) as the data was being routed through affected systems,” the company spokesperson wrote.
Landry's says heightened security measures have since been implemented to prevent similar situations happening in the future. Card owners that used a payment card at one of their affected locations during the periods of the breach will be mailed a letter or sent an e-mail with more information.
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“If you used a payment 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 company asked. “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.”
Landry’s and Golden Nugget asks any customers with further questions to call (877) 238-2151 (U.S. and Canada), Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm EST.
The two Connecticut restaurants that might be affected are below, with additional establishments nationwide available on their website:
- Morton’s
- Hartford, the date of the breach is listed as Dec. 31, 2014, but the location closed before the investigation began.
- Stamford, the date of the breach is listed as Aug. 24, 2014, but the location closed before the investigation began
