FOX Business: Panera Bread Data Breach Exposes Customer Records

Panera Bread has released a statement to FOX Business regarding a security flaw on their website that leaked vital customer information online. The statement claims that the breach has been resolved and affected fewer than 10,000 consumers, but an independent investigation conducted by “Krebs on Security” blog author Brian Krebs indicates more than 7 million customers may have been affected.

Though Panera’s statement did not detail what kind of data was exposed, Krebs’s report shows that names, email and physical addresses, birthdays and the last four digits of customer credit cards numbers were accessible. According to Krebs, the security flaw and resulting leak were first identified in August, eight months before the site was taken offline.

In the statement, Panera Bread Chief Information Officer John Meister said, “Panera takes data security very seriously, and this issue is resolved. Following reports today of a potential problem on our website, we suspended the functionality to repair the issue. Our investigation is continuing, but there is no evidence of payment card information nor a large number of records being accessed or retrieved.”