Credit Card Service In Israel Disabled Due To Cyber Attack

Credit card illustration. (Unsplash/CardMapr.nl)

JAKARTA - Thousands of credit card readers at Israeli gas stations and supermarket chains were out of service on Sunday morning, in what the company in charge of cybersecurity readers said was suspected of being a DDoS attack.

Hyp Credit Guard told Israeli media on Sunday it had ruled out concerns about a larger-scale cyberattack, adding that alleged attacks on the rejection of distributed services (DDoS) on communications providers may be the cause of non-function in all Israeli stores.

The company then reported the cyberattack ended after an hour's crash.

"In the past hour, we have experienced DDoS attacks on several of our connected company services and communications providers," Credit Guard said in a statement, quoted by The Jerusalem Post November 11.

"At this point, the attack was blocked, and the service was back to normal operations. We coordinated with all security agencies to ensure continued normal operations," he added.

The alleged cyberattack follows previous efforts made by Iran to penetrate Israel's cyber defenses. In October, similar attacks targeted a national credit-based payment system.

The attack on the system operated by Sheba (Automated Bank Services) caused delays in approving debit card payments. However, Sheba reports that its main role in the national payment system remains intact, thus preventing a widespread market impact.