A cyberattack on payment systems blocked cards readers across stores and gas stations in Israel

A cyberattack in Israel allegedly disrupted communication services, causing widespread malfunction of credit card readers across the country on Sunday.

The Jerusalem Post reported that thousands of credit card readers across at gas stations and supermarket chains in Israel stopped working on Sunday morning following an alleged DDoS attack that hit the company responsible for the operations of the devices.

Customers at supermarkets and gas stations were reportedly unable to make payments due to the ongoing cyberattack.

“Hyp Credit Guard told Israeli media outlets on Sunday that it had ruled out fears of a larger-scale cyberattack, adding that a suspected denial-of-service attack on communication suppliers is the likely cause of the malfunctioning across Israeli stores.” reads the article published by The Jerusalem Post.

“The company had since reported that the attack was over following an hour-long crash. “

The DDoS attack against Hyp’s CreditGuard payment gateway disrupted communication between card terminals and the payment systems. The company pointed out that no personal or financial data was compromised.

The attack lasted one hour before being mitigated, it impacted multiple companies across Israel, including the Maccabi health fund, taxi service Gett, food ordering app Wolt, and public transportation payment systems Rav Kav Online and Hop-On.

“In the last hour, we experienced a DDoS attack on some of the company’s services and the communication providers connected to us,” Credit Guard said in a statement. “At this point, the attack was blocked, and the service returned to normal operation. We are coordinating with all security agencies to ensure continued normal operation.”

The attack appears to be linked to the ongoing military operations conducted by Israelis in Gaza and Lebanon.

It’s unclear who his behind the security incident, this suspected cyberattack on Israel’s payment system follows prior attempts by Iran, including an October attack that caused debit card delays but didn’t disrupt the core payment system operated by Sheba (Automated Bank Services).

Channel 12 news and Army Radio reported that an Iran-linked hacker group took responsibility for the attack on Hyp Credit Guard.

Cyberattacks on Israeli companies have surged by 100% since last year, with most attacks reportedly originating from Iran, according to cybersecurity firm Check Point.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Israel)