Yum! Brands, the US-based parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, has been struck by a cyber-attack, resulting in the temporary closure of nearly 300 stores across the UK.

While the stores are now all operational, the culprits behind the ransomware attack are still unknown.

In a statement released on 18 January, Yum! Brands claimed that, after realising the attack, they immediately initiated response protocols, including deploying containment measures such as taking certain systems offline and implementing enhanced monitoring technology.

The company is expecting the restoration of affected systems to be largely completed in the coming days.

Although data was taken from the company’s network, at this stage it’s believed that no customer databases were stolen.

Currently, the attack is being investigated further by Yum! Brands, and US Federal law enforcement have been notified. The company said they engaged third party cybersecurity and forensics professionals to identify the culprits.

Further details – such as the nature of the data that was breached – have not yet been released.

While Yum! Brands appeared to have responded swiftly, nearly 300 restaurants had to close their doors for a day, which could have economic and reputational consequences for the entire company.

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Consumers in 2022 were found to be more concerned over a company’s history with data breaches than before, as cybercrime is on the rise. 

This comes just weeks after another major cyber-attack on Royal Mail which continues to disrupt services.

In 2022, cyber-attacks rose by 77% in the UK. Businesses are investing heavily to repel these attacks, with an average spend of £600k annually to improve security.

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