Pepsi Bottling Ventures Suffers Security Breach
Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC has revealed that a security breach occurred in December that may have involved some personal information provided by current and former employees and contractors of PBV.
Pepsi Bottling Ventures is an independent, privately-held bottler. No information owned by PepsiCo was affected.
On Jan. 10, Pepsi Bottling Ventures learned that unauthorized activity was reported on certain internal IT systems. PBV took prompt action to contain the incident and further strengthen the security of its networks. Based on its investigation, an unknown party accessed those systems on or around Dec. 23 and downloaded certain information contained in the accessed IT systems.
As of Jan. 19, PBV has detected no unauthorized activity.
The impacted information varies by individual, and may have included: first and last names (including individual and/or parents’ legal surname prior to marriage); home address; email address; financial account information (including a limited number of passwords, PIN codes or other access numbers); state and federal government issued identification numbers such as driver license numbers, ID cards, Social Security numbers and passport information; digital signatures; and information related to benefits and employment, including certain limited medical history, health and health insurance claims, and health insurance information such as policy numbers.
Pepsi Bottling Ventures promptly reported the incident to law enforcement, suspended all affected systems and investigated to understand the scope and impact of the incident. At this time, the company said it not aware of any identity theft or fraud involving an individual’s personal information.
Pepsi Bottling Ventures has secured the services of Kroll to provide identity monitoring at no cost for at least one year for those impacted. Identity monitoring services include credit monitoring, a current credit report, web watcher, public persona, Quick Cash Scan, $1 million identity fraud loss reimbursement, fraud consultation and identity theft restoration.
For those who may have been affected, the company advises promptly change username(s), password(s) and security question answer(s) for any accounts or account information maintained with Pepsi Bottling Ventures and take any other appropriate steps to protect all other online accounts that use the same username, password or security question answer.
Those seeking additional information may contact a toll-free call center at (866) 674-3149, Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, excluding major U.S. holidays.
“PBV values the security and privacy of the information entrusted to us and deeply regrets this incident,” the company said in a statement.
Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC is a privately held manufacturer, seller and distributor of some of the most recognized beverage brands in the world. Headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., PBV has 19 locations in North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware.
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