A cyberattack temporarily shut down thousands of credit card readers in Israel Sunday, leaving customers unable to make payments at many gas stations, supermarkets, and other stores for several hours. The issue was traced to a Distributed Denial of Service attack targeting Credit Guard, a payment processing service owned by Hyp, which manages transactions for multiple major businesses across Israel.
Credit Guard confirmed that the attack disrupted its services and affected connected communication providers, disabling payment terminals. According to the company, the attack lasted about an hour before being blocked, allowing services to return to normal. Credit Guard stated that they are working with security agencies to prevent future incidents.
According to reports, an Iran-linked hacker group claimed responsibility for the cyberattack, though details of this claim were not verified. The incident came shortly after a similar attack on another Israeli payment service, sparking concerns about ongoing cyber threats to the country’s financial systems.
Credit Guard’s clients include the Maccabi health fund, taxi service Gett, the Wolt food ordering app, and public transportation systems like Rav Kav Online and Hop-On. The widespread usage of their services caused significant disruptions for both consumers and businesses.