The Chinese restaurant chain P.F. Chang's confirmed that they had been a victim of a cybercrime that compromised the security of their payment system, affecting its credit card payment terminals and ultimately the credit card information of their customers. Due to the undermining of the point-of-sale transaction systems and the hackers exploiting its vulnerability, the restaurant chain has decided to use manual imprinting of credit cards, while investigations are ongoing.

The security breach has allowed the cyber criminals to gain access and steal customer payment card data from several of P.F. Chang's branches. Brian Krebs of KrebsOnSecurity first reported the breach on June 11 after discovering that thousands of newly stolen credit and debit card details were for sale in underground forums online. It was further learned that the data was all from the restaurant chain.

P.F. Chang's said in its statement that their use of manual imprints was in order to allow for safer transactions. However, despite their shift to the manual system with credit and debit cards, security experts said that the manual imprint is not necessarily a safer approach. Still, the difficulty posed to the restaurant when having to go through each printed copy means that people with malicious intent would have to go through the same difficulties, which is not as easy as digitally siphoning credit card details, something which can take place in a matter of minutes. P.F. Chang's has not actually disclosed full details on the security compromise yet, but actions they have taken strongly suggest that the card terminals used for payment were likely the point of the breach.

The responsibility does not lie with the merchant alone in battling against online criminals. Customers are encouraged to always look at their credit card and bank transaction statements to detect if they have been victims of any fraudulent activity, especially if they ate at the restaurant in the past. For those who choose to visit a P.F. Chang's restaurant in the meantime, it would be best to pay cash until the security of their electronic system is ensured.