(Bloomberg) -- P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc. said credit- anddebit-card data has been stolen from some of its restaurants andthat it is probing the incident with the U.S. Secret Service and ateam of third-party investigators.

All of the chain’s Asian-themed restaurants in the continentalU.S. will now use a manual credit-card imprinting system, theScottsdale, Arizona-based company said today in an e-mailedstatement.

The restaurant chain joins Target Corp. and Neiman Marcus GroupLtd. in being hit by hackers in attacks that have exposed the dataof tens of millions of customers. The breaches have acceleratedcompanies’ efforts to adopt new cards, used in Europe, Asia andLatin America, that store information on embedded chips rather thanless-secure magnetic strips.

“If you look at the way commerce is conducted at the U.S. retailspace, in comparison to other places in the world, the U.S. is aneasier target,” Michael Sutton, vice president of security researchat Zscaler Inc., a web-security firm in San Jose, California.Sutton is based in Washington.

Brian Krebs, an independent journalist who investigates hackerattacks, reported earlier this week that card data stolen from P.F.Chang’s had gone on sale on an underground Web marketplace, and thecompany said it was looking into the matter.

Krebs said that several banks indicated that the cards in thebatch that went on sale on the Web had been used at P.F. Chang’slocations between March and May 19.

Taking Toll

The hacker attacks have taken a toll on some of the companiesthat have been hit. In Target’s case, the data breach hamperedsales and led to the ouster of its chief executive officer, whoheld himself personally responsible for the attack. Target namedChief Financial Officer John Mulligan as interim CEO last month,replacing Gregg Steinhafel.

Target will introduce the new chip-and-PIN technology for itshouse-brand credit and debit cards next year.

P.F. Chang’s, which was acquired by private-equity firmCenterbridge Partners LP for $1.05 billion in 2012 and also runsthe Pei Wei Asian Diner chain, is facing other headaches beyond thebreach. Moody’s Investors Service downgraded its credit ratingearlier this month, citing “soft consumer spending and intensecompetitive pressure.”

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