See's Candies Data Breach Exposes Sensitive Customer Information

See's Candies Inc., the well-known American candy company and subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, disclosed a data breach that involved unauthorized access to its computer network in April 2026.

The breach was reported to the attorneys general of California, Massachusetts and Texas starting on Aug. 13, 2026. The company began sending notification letters to affected individuals after completing its review of impacted files.

See's Candies discovered the breach on April 12, 2026. The breach was a ransomware attack in which an unauthorized user accessed certain portions of the See's Candies network and encrypted files on a subset of its servers. The unauthorized access took place from April 11, 2026, to April 13, 2026.

The company was initially unable to determine whether any files had been taken from the network. However, its review later revealed that the unauthorized user had acquired certain files before encrypting them.

On April 30, 2026, the ransomware group known as Qilin claimed responsibility for the attack on a Tor-based dark web site. The group stated that it had obtained data belonging to See's Candies.

The types of personal information confirmed as exposed included names, medical records, driver's licenses and Social Security numbers.

A total of 459 individuals were affected by the incident, including 481 residents of Texas and 64 of Massachusetts.

See's Candies' response to the breach

See's Candies is offering affected individuals 12 months of complimentary identity theft protection through Experian IdentityWorks. The service includes a credit report at signup, daily credit monitoring of the individual's Experian credit file, identity restoration support and $1 million in identity theft insurance.

To activate the services, affected individuals can visit the Experian IdentityWorks website using the enrollment URL and activation code included in their notification letter. Each individual's code must be used before the enrollment deadline listed in their letter.

Those with questions or who need help can contact Experian's customer care team at 1-833-918-0882, Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific Time.