P.F. Chang‘s China Bistro said Tuesday that it is investigating a potential security breach that may have led to the theft of information from thousands of customer credit cards.
The possible theft was first reported by Brian Krebs, a security blogger, who noted thousands of fresh credit cards appeared on Rescator, a so-called carding site that was used to sell payment data after last year’s Target network breach. Data from the magnetic strips of the latest stolen cards is selling for between $18 and $140 per card.
Mr. Krebs said representatives from affected banks had purchased several stolen credit cards from carding sites and discovered that many were used recently at P.F. Chang’s.
“P.F. Chang’s takes these matters very seriously and is currently investigating the situation, working with the authorities to learn more,” Anne Deanovic, a spokeswoman for the company, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., said in a written statement. “We will provide an update as soon as we have additional information.”
Ms. Deanovic said the company had not yet tied fraudulent activity on customers’ credit cards to the possible breach. The Secret Service, which has been conducting an inquiry into recent hacks at Target, Neiman Marcus and others, did not immediately return a request for comment.
P.F. Chang’s was acquired by private-equity firm Centerbridge Partners in 2012 for $1.1 billion. It operated 200 Asian restaurant bistros and some 170 Pei Wei Asian Diners at the time of the deal.
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SOURCE: Nicole Perlroth
The New York Times | CNBC
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