Privacy, Security & Virus Information

Someone may have just phished on your hamburger

The McDonalds fast food chain, that bastion of family fun and affordable meals, no longer the friendly place that it used to with the news that re recent global hacking attack may have compromised the credit card details of all those millions who have dined at one of the chain's thousands of restaurants over the last few weeks.

McDonald's management have gone public with a statement warning customers that a breach of security has occurred, and tens of thousands of innocent individuals who just wanted a big Mack and instead got a big Hack may now be vulnerable to phishing attacks on their cards. Experts fear that the security breach could go as far as identity theft if a victim's personal details have not been secured by anti-virus software, which will prevent hackers infiltrating their systems.

This recent attack has caused considerable upset in the online security community, as it is what is known as a "third party" attack, in other words the hackers did not target MacDonald's software directly, and instead they succeeded in infiltrating another company who were handling a promotional campaign on behalf of the group. The company were involved in organising a global e-mail campaign, using addresses gathered up in McDonald's branches in the period before Christmas.

On the upside, the hackers were only able to access names as well as e-mail and physical addresses, and other personal information that can be used for social engineering and identity theft attacks. McDonalds have taken full responsibility for the attack, and have informed millions of customers through e-mail warning them that they should be extra vigilant over the coming weeks, especially if they receive mails from McDonalds with an invitation to click on links or move on to a third party web site.

Once again the innocent consumer who only wants to pass through life without becoming a victim to internet fraud, which can come from the most trusted of sources, finds themselves vulnerable to a hacker attack. The only way to keep these cyber thieves at bay is to construct a giant barrier around your computer and the increasingly sensitive information stored there.

And the only way is to fight fire with fire by installing the most powerful anti-virus software available on the market today, That way the hacker will be kept at bay, and will never be able to phish on your big Mack.

 

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