On April 30, 2024, Panda Group, Inc. and its affiliates, Panda Inn, Panda Express, and Hibachi-San (“Panda Express”), filed a notice of data breach with the Attorney General of Maine after discovering that an unauthorized party gained access to the company’s computer system. In this notice, Panda Express explains that the incident resulted in an unauthorized party being able to access consumers’ sensitive information. Upon completing its investigation, Panda Express began sending out data breach notification letters to all individuals whose information was affected by the recent data security incident.

If you received a data breach notification from Panda Group, Inc., it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it. A data breach lawyer can help you learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft, as well as discuss your legal options following the Panda Express data breach. For more information, please see our recent piece on the topic here.

What Caused the Panda Express Data Breach?

The Panda Express data breach was only recently announced, and more information is expected in the near future. However, Panda Express’s filing with the Attorney General of Maine provides some important information on what led up to the breach. According to this source, on March 10, 2024, Panda Express detected suspicious activity within its computer system. In response, Panda Express secured its network and then launched an investigation with the help of third-party data security experts. Panda Express also reported the incident to law enforcement.

Through its investigation, Panda Express learned that an unauthorized party had gained access to portions of its IT network between March 7, 2024 and March 11, 2024, including files containing confidential consumer information.

After learning that sensitive consumer data was accessible to an unauthorized party, Panda Express reviewed the compromised files to determine what information was leaked and which consumers were impacted. Panda Express completed this process on April 15, 2024.

On April 30, 2024, Panda Express sent out data breach letters to anyone who was affected by the recent data security incident. While the publicly available Panda Express data breach letter has all the leaked data types redacted, the personalized data breach letters that were recently sent out should provide victims with a list of what information belonging to them was compromised.

More Information About Panda Group, Inc.

Founded in 1973, Panda Group, Inc. is a restaurant group based out of Rosemead, California. The Panda Group operated Panda Express, Panda Inn, and Hibachi-San restaurants. The Panda group has more than 2,300 restaurants in 43 states, Puerto Rico and Mexico. Panda Express employs more than 47,000 people and generates approximately $4.5 billion in annual revenue.