Rockingham Dairy Queen hit by credit card info breach

Local store among 395 affected

Staff report

* Complete list of affected stores

The Rockingham Dairy Queen is on the list of stores impacted by the Backoff malware intrusion announced Thursday by International Dairy Queen Inc.

Nineteen of the 395 affected Dairy Queen and Orange Julius locations were in North Carolina, including Southern Pines. Both the West Broad Avenue location and the South Knoll Road store are owned by Dairy Queen LTC Brazier.

Each of the affected stores’  computer systems were infected with the widely-reported Backoff malware that is targeting retailers across the country. In both Rockingham and Southern Pines, the affected transaction dates are from Aug. 5 to Aug. 29.

Stephanie Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com

Stephanie Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com

The company previously indicated that it was investigating a possible malware intrusion that may have affected some payment cards used at certain DQ locations in the U.S.  Upon learning of the issue, the company conducted an extensive investigation and retained external forensic experts to help determine the facts.

Based on the investigation, we believe certain customers’ payment card information may have been compromised as a result of this incident.  The affected systems contained customers’ names, payment card numbers and expiration dates.  No PINs were compromised as a result of this issue. The malware has been contained and no longer presents a threat to customers who use payment cards at the affected stores, company officials said.

Because nearly all DQ and Orange Julius locations are independently owned and operated, the company worked closely with affected franchise owners, as well as law enforcement authorities and the payment card brands, to assess the nature and scope of the issue.  The investigation revealed that a third-party vendor’s compromised account credentials were used to access systems at some locations.

The investigation has established the following:

  • The Backoff malware only impacted payment card data at 395 of the more than 4,500 U.S. locations.
  • The time periods during which the Backoff malware was present on the relevant systems vary by location.  A list of impacted locations, as well as the relevant time periods, is available at www.dq.com/datasecurityincident/.
  • The affected systems contained payment card customer names, numbers and expiration dates.  The company has no evidence that other customer personal information, such as Social Security numbers, PINs or email addresses, was compromised as a result of this malware infection.
  • Based on our investigation, we are confident that this malware has been contained.

We are committed to working with and supporting our affected DQ and Orange Julius franchise owners to address this incident,” said John Gainor, president and CEO of International Dairy Queen.  “Our customers continue to be our top priority.”  The company is offering free identity repair services for one year to customers in the U.S. who used their payment card at one of the impacted DQ locations or the one Orange Julius location during the relevant time period.  The company has posted information about these services and other steps that affected DQ and Orange Julius customers can take to help protect themselves on the company’s website at www.dq.com/datasecurityincident/.

If you believe your payment card may have been affected, you should refer to your payment card statements to confirm which card was used at Dairy Queen or Orange Julius and check for any misuse.  You should immediately contact your bank or payment card issuer if you believe your card has been misused.  Under U.S. law, you are entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies.  To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call toll free at 1-877-322-8228.  You are encouraged to review your account statements and monitor your free credit reports.  For more information about steps you can take to protect your credit files, you can contact any one of the nationwide consumer reporting agencies at:

* Equifax, 800-525-6285 or www.equifax.com
* Experian, 888-397-3742 or www.experian.com
* TransUnion, 800-680-7289 or www.transunion.com

Dairy Queen or Orange Julius will never ask you to provide personal information in an email.  You should always be suspicious of any email communications that ask for your personal information or refer you to a web page asking for personal information.

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