RESTAURANT SETTLES DATA BREACH LAWSUIT

Recently, the The Briar Group agreed to settle a data breach lawsuit by filed by Massachusetts’ Attorney General Martha Coakley.  The data breach occurred in April 2009.  The Briar Group manages various restaurants, including Ed Devine’s, the Green Briar and The Lenox.

In the settlement agreement, The Briar Group agreed to pay $ 110,000 to resolve the Attorney General’s allegations that it failed to take reasonable steps to protect diners’ personal identifying information and put tens of thousands of consumers at risk for identity theft and unauthorized charges.   The complaint alleged Briar failed to implement basic data security measures which would have prevented hackers from accessing its customers’ credit and debit card
information, including names and account numbers. 

Restaurant data breaches can be especially catastrophic to consumers because of the number of credit and debt card transactions processed by restaurants.  The threat of unauthorized transactions is heightened when restaurants retain the credit or debit card numbers longer than necessary to complete the transactions.  Have you discovered unauthorized charges on your bank or credit card statement?  If you have unauthorized transactions on your credit or debit card, then someone may have your account information.  Contact consumer protection lawyer Micah Adkins for information about how you can dispute the unauthorized charges and protect your identity.

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