Panera Bread week-long IT outage caused by ransomware attack

Panera Bread week-long IT outage caused by ransomware attack

April 5, 2024 at 09:58AM

Panera Bread’s recent week-long outage was caused by a ransomware attack, leading to encrypted virtual machines and preventing access to data and applications. Panera has not identified the responsible ransomware group and has not responded to inquiries about the incident. Employees expressed concerns about the company’s lack of transparency regarding the attack. Similarly, Omni Hotels is also dealing with a significant IT outage due to a ransomware attack.

Based on the meeting notes, it is evident that Panera Bread recently experienced a week-long outage as a result of a ransomware attack. The attack encrypted many of the company’s virtual machines, leading to the loss of access to data and applications. The company has since restored some systems from backups, but it is still unclear which ransomware group is responsible. Panera has not responded to requests for comments, and employees are concerned about the lack of transparency regarding the potential data breach.

The outage significantly impacted Panera’s internal IT systems, phones, point of sales system, website, and mobile apps, leading to disruptions in employee shift details and electronic payments at stores. Furthermore, the reward program systems were also affected, causing frustration among Panera Sip Club members.

As of January 23, 2024, Panera and its franchises owned 2,160 cafes across 48 states in the U.S. and Ontario, Canada.

In addition, Omni Hotels also faced a massive IT outage attributed to a cyberattack, resulting in reservation problems, lengthy check-in lines, and guests needing to be let into rooms with master keycards due to door lock system issues. Omni confirmed that they suffered a ransomware attack, although they did not specify the type of attack.

These incidents underscore the growing threat of cyberattacks and the need for companies to strengthen their cybersecurity measures to prevent such disruptions in the future.

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