Were You Affected by the Home Chef Meal Kits Data Breach?

Consumer Affairs reports that nearly 75 million user records from at least ten different entities were stolen by a hacker group going by the name ShinyHunters. Among those organizations which were targeted is Home Chef meal kits delivery service.

What Are Home Chef Meal Kits?

Home Chef is a meal kit delivery service and competitor of companies like Blue Apron and HelloFresh. According to the company’s site, they provide customers with pre-portioned ingredients ready to bake in their Home Chef meal kits.  All the customer needs to do is bake the oven-safe tray of ingredients. Their service is meant to simplify the cooking process by letting customers prepare meals with “no prep, no mess, just yum!”

How Did the Home Chef Meal Kits Data Breach Occur?

Among those companies targeted by this theft is Chatbooks, a printing service. According to the company’s CEO, the hackers carried out a cyber attack against the company’s database in order to access user data. It’s likely that the hackers carried out a similar attack against Home Chef meal kits, but, so far, no details have been made available by these companies regarding the attacks themselves.

Since the breach, Home Chef has published multiple pages addressing customer questions on the data breach. However, this information is sparse. On the page meant to answer the question “What happened?”, there are just two sentences.

The page reads, “Protection of customer data is a top priority for Home Chef, and we work hard to safeguard our customers’ information. We recently learned of a data security incident impacting select customer information.”

More information regarding the sale of this information is available than there is regarding the breaches. According to BleepingComputer, the hackers have put databases from the businesses they targeted up for sale. Prices for user data ranged from $1,500 to $2,500. The Home Chef meal kits database is among the most expensive of the databases up for sale, according to BleepingComputer.

What Data Was Leaked?

The data stolen by the hackers includes a variety of personally identifiable information, BleepingComputer reports. Emails, bcrypt-hashed passwords, and IP addresses were reportedly being offered for $2,500. While the bcrypt-hashed passwords need to be dehashed before they can be used, they’re still valuable. Other information stolen by the hackers includes phone numbers, partial social security numbers, and zip codes. Some user data may also include social media access tokens.

In a statement on the company’s customer support site, Home Chef said that the data that was stolen included personally identifiable information like that listed above as well as the last four digits of customer credit cards, their mailing addresses, and the frequency with which they made orders.

According to BleepingComputer, no buyers were interested in purchasing the databases for their original prices. The site expects the hackers to lower their prices before making the databases available on more marketplaces.

How Many People Were Affected?

There is some question as to how many people may be affected by this breach because not all of the companies involved have confirmed that the hackers successfully stole user data. However, Home Chef has confirmed the breach of their database. It is believed that the records of eight million users may have been stolen. According to the company site, Home Chef is contacting any users who may have been affected.

Can You Get a Home Chef Meal Kits Refund?

So far, it doesn’t appear as though the Home Chef meal kits data breach affected the company’s meal delivery service. As such, no customers should have experienced lost orders or an interruption in service due to this event. Refunds are not currently being offered in relation to this data breach anywhere on the company’s site. If you would like to skip a delivery due to the breach, you can do so on the company site.

Should You Join a Home Chef Meal Kits Data Breach Lawsuit?

Following the Home Chef meal kits data breach, it is likely that a class action will be filed against the meal kit delivery service. If you used the company’s services, created a profile on the site, or received an email from the company regarding your stolen data, you may be eligible to join a class action suit regarding the data breach.

Join a Home Chef Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you have a Home Chef user account, your information may have been compromised in this recent data breach, and you may qualify to join this Home Chef security breach class action investigation and pursue compensation.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.