2025 Cybersecurity Outlook for Restaurants 

The restaurant experience has quickly become a digital landscape. With cashless transactions and delivery services becoming the norm, diners are enjoying faster, more streamlined dining journeys. But this technology adoption has also introduced new cybersecurity vulnerabilities. 

In 2025 and beyond, restaurant executives should be on the lookout for increasing point-of-sale (POS) systems attacks, AI-powered social engineering tactics, and greater supply chain cyber vulnerabilities. 

Here’s a look at the top four cybersecurity risks for restaurants in the new year:

1. Cashless payment systems will encourage more point-of-sale system attacks

Point-of-sale systems are a foundational component of a restaurant’s daily operations. Unfortunately, this makes them a frequent target of cyberattacks. For example, last year, thousands of restaurants were impacted after The Blackcat Ransomware Group attacked Aloha point-of-sale restaurant software, stealing sensitive credentials.

This attack, however, is not out of the ordinary. Today’s point-of-sale systems have been outfitted with modern features, namely cashless payment systems. Spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic, cashless transactions (e.g., those conducted via QR codes and digital wallets) have quickly dominated restaurant transactions and are now here to stay. In fact, according to the National Restaurant Association’s 2024 State of the Restaurant Industry report, more than half of millennials and Gen Z adults report they would choose a restaurant that offers technological services like mobile payments over those that don’t.     Meanwhile, a Deloitte study reveals restaurant go-ers spend 20 percent more when given handheld point-of-sale devices.

While a boon for both restauranteurs and customers in the name of increased sales, greater convenience, and streamlined payment processes, these cashless payment systems add new vulnerabilities to already often-targeted point-of-sale systems. For one, they make restaurants more susceptible to skimming or other point-of-sale fraud tactics. QR codes, for their part, can be exploited through phishing schemes, where hackers create fake codes to direct users to malicious websites. Meanwhile, hackers can target digital wallets to intercept unencrypted payment data. 

Ultimately, these new entry points give hackers more entryways to infiltrate and potentially steal sensitive data.

2. Deepfakes will level up social engineering attacks

Looking ahead into 2025, other new technologies will help cyberattackers target restaurants more effectively. Of note lately is the rise of deepfakes, or artificial images, videos, or audio recordings developed by deep learning. Leveraging deepfake technology, bad actors can mimic the voices and even physical appearances of real people with startling accuracy, enabling them to carry out more realistic and more effective social engineering attacks than ever before.

For example, with highly personalized audio or video recordings, bad actors can impersonate restaurant managers, HR persons, or IT support, tricking staff into clicking on malicious links, downloading malware, or handing over financial information, login credentials, or other sensitive data. 

Without greater cybersecurity education and deepfake awareness training, it will be increasingly difficult for on-the-ground employees to tell fraud from fact—and they’ll need to. The consequences of data breaches for restaurants are far-reaching, from compromised employee and customer personal data to ransomware attacks, operational downtime, and even lawsuits.

3. AI will make phishing attacks more sophisticated

Beyond deepfakes, there are other ways artificial intelligence (AI) will make bad actors’ social engineering attacks more sophisticated. New, AI-powered phishing attacks can intelligently mimic real people’s writing styles and tones to create emails or SMS messages that deceive restaurant employees and dupe them into making grave cybersecurity mistakes. 

For example, cyberattackers can send emails posing as vendors to request payments for invoices or to make changes to their payment details. Or they might impersonate internal HR workers to extract information from employees like payroll data, tax information, and employee credentials. They can even send SMS messages to on-the-ground restaurant staff, pretending to be a delivery service driver getting in touch about an issue with an order; in this scenario, unsuspecting restaurant staff are tricked into clicking on a malicious link, unwittingly installing malware or granting unauthorized access to the restaurant’s network. 

Phishing emails and SMS messages are nothing new; many people have learned how to detect them, and most inboxes automatically send suspicious messages directly to SPAM. But modern, AI-powered phishing emails will be able to more intelligently bypass the SPAM folder and convince staff that they’re the real deal. 

4. Delivery platforms increase risks of supply chain attacks

The restaurant supply chain is dense, involving food suppliers, payment processors, and delivery services. Often, these third-party vendors’ systems are integrated directly with restaurants. Some may even share login credentials. This makes third-party vendors an easy gateway to carry out cyberattacks on restaurants and make off with customers’ and employees’ personal and financial data. 

Again, point-of-sale systems present ripe opportunities for attacks, as bad actors can hack third parties’ systems and then exploit connections to restaurants to gain full systems access. But this isn’t the only way hackers can take advantage of the supply chain to target restaurants. 

Today, delivery platforms play an important role in the restaurant supply chain. A 2024 Paytronix report on online ordering shows 27 percent of all restaurants and convenience store orders were conducted online, while Square’s 2024 Dining Report confirms 50 percent of all diners have used a delivery service at least once. As more diners continue to choose online ordering, delivery platforms will become an increasingly attractive target for cyberattackers. If they can successfully compromise a delivery platform, then they can use that as a foothold to gain unauthorized access to a restaurant’s system to steal payment information, manipulate order and inventory systems, install ransomware, or carry out other nefarious activities. 

Conclusion: Prepare now for 2025’s biggest cyber risks

In 2025 and beyond, cyberattackers will continue to find more sophisticated means of attacking and infiltrating restaurants’ networks in attempts to steal sensitive data, deploy ransomware, and otherwise disrupt operations. Attacks via point-of-sale systems, social engineering methods, and the supply chain will take center stage and be made all the more exploitable thanks to cashless transactions, AI, and delivery service platforms. 

To best prepare to detect and deflect these cyberattacks, restaurants should prioritize cyber intelligence and information-sharing by participating in industry organizations like RH-ISAC. By collaborating with other retail and hospitality organizations, restaurant executives can exchange best practices and problem-solve together to help build a better, more secure industry, for everyone.