Hacking attack on McDoland's

The McDonald's restaurant chain has discovered that some of its employee and customer information has been stolen by unknown hackers in the US, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan, as well as possibly in Russia. The Wall Street Journal reported this on Friday.

In a statement to employees, McDonald's said it had detected unauthorised access to its computer systems, which was only blocked a week later. It did not specify when this happened. The company hired outside consultants to investigate the incident. In the US the attackers gained access to information on McDonald's employees, partners and restaurants, while in South Korea and Taiwan they accessed customers' personal data, including phone numbers and addresses.

McDonald's also promised to "notify certain employees in South Africa and Russia of possible leaks of their personal information", the newspaper noted.

The company said it had not received any demands from the attackers and that its restaurants were not affected.

The topic of cybercrime has become particularly hot in the US in recent months. In early May, DarkSide hacked into Colonial Pipeline's systems. At the end of the same month, the computer networks of meat processing company JBS were attacked.

US Undersecretary of Justice Lisa Monaco told reporters on 7 June that cyber extortion attacks had become more widespread and technically sophisticated over the past year. Victims of hackers have included infrastructure, various firms, entire cities and even law enforcement agencies. Monaco assured that its agency, together with its partners, would use all tools at its disposal to disrupt such activities by disabling the computer networks used by the perpetrators.