Mobile Payments Users at Checkers, Rally’s Outlets Should Start Watching Cards Closer

Checkers and Rally’s locations are commonly known for drive-in style fast food that gives you that little extra taste of the old days. However, for those who recently used mobile payments tools at a Checkers or Rally’s, you might have a bigger problem on your hands than mustard on the upholstery. New reports have emerged that certain locations in the chain have been hit with malware in an attempt to gain access to payment data.

The breaches hit locations in 19 different states, the reports note, and based on the current reports, not at every location within those states. As is now commonplace following discovery of a data breach, Checkers and Rally’s launched an investigation with data security experts on hand and alerted federal law enforcement as well, allowing the two to properly coordinate to track down and address the problem.

The investigation’s results turned up malware installed on point-of-sale systems at certain locations. The malware itself, meanwhile, was geared to focus on finding key information like cardholder names, payment card numbers, expiration dates and verification codes, all fairly standard uses for malware.

Checkers and Rally’s have a full list of locations potentially exposed, complete with approximate dates, available on their website. If you live in any of the following states, however, you may want to engage in a little more vigilance than normal for a while: West Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Nevada, Michigan, Louisiana, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Georgia, Florida, Delaware, California, Arizona, or Alabama.

Data breaches seem to be part of the territory now when it comes to using mobile payments systems. I know, we’d all rather see a world in which that doesn’t happen, but as long as big money can be made by breaking into systems or houses, we’re going to see this continue. The fact that we don’t see a lot more data breaches than this, however, gives us some hope; it’s obvious that hackers aren’t only occasionally trying for data breaches, which means a lot more breaches are stopped than go through.

That’s cold comfort to those who are impacted by breaches, though. So for those who stopped into a Checkers or Rally’s in several states, sad to say, you’re just the latest victims.