Darden Restaurants says hack may have exposed 567,000 payment cards

Darden Restaurants is warning that a cyberattack on one of its eateries exposed payment data for hundreds of thousands of customers.

The company, whose brands include Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse and Capital Grille, said Wednesday that a breach of Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen restaurants in 23 states exposed customer data for 567,000 payment cards. 

The breach potentially affects consumers who ate at the affected restaurants between Nov. 3, 2017, and Jan. 2, 2018, Darden said, citing information from federal authorities. The data stolen in the hack includes card numbers and other information.

Darden, which bought Cheddar's last year, said it was notified of the incident on August 16. The attack involving an older computer system that Darden said it replaced in April.

Consumers who dined at a Cheddar's restaurant in one of the affected states were urged to call (888) 258-7280 for more information about free identity protection services. Those states are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.