Security News > 2021 > November > California Pizza Kitchen Serves Up Employee SSNs in Data Breach

California Pizza Kitchen served up more than tasty meals recently after a data breach exposed the names and Social Security numbers of more than 100,000 current and former employees.

The "External system breach" occurred on Sept. 15 at the popular U.S. pizza chain and affected 103,767 people, according to a Data Breach Notification posted on the website of the Maine Attorney General.

The company is currently reviewing existing security policies and has implemented additional measures - including safeguards and employee training - to help prevent similar incidents going forward, according to the notice.

One security professional noted that employee training is a key element of helping to avoid breaches like this, which are all too common at organizations that have sensitive data on their networks but typically employ people without specific knowledge of how security breaches can occur.

"Every business like California Pizza Kitchen possesses valuable PII data which makes them a prime target for attackers," Al-Khalidi, co-founder and co-CEO of security firm Axiad, wrote in an email to Threatpost.

Employee training can't replace a solid technology-based security posture that errs on the side of paranoia in preventing cyber-attacks, Lopez told Threatpost via email.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/california-pizza-kitchen-employee-ssns-data-breach/176478/