BridgePay, a widely used payment processing platform that powers card payments for numerous restaurants, hospitality brands and retailers across the United States, has confirmed that a ransomware cyberattack was responsible for a prolonged outage of its payment services that disrupted millions of transactions over the weekend. The company publicly acknowledged the incident after days of uncertainty from clients and the broader industry.
The outage affected payment terminals, point-of-sale systems and digital payment acceptance features for many BridgePay customers — leading to inability to process debit and credit card payments at stores, online checkouts and self-service kiosks. The disruption underscored the deep dependency of modern commerce on third-party payment infrastructure and the growing impact of cybercrime on everyday financial operations.
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What Happened: Ransomware Behind Outage
BridgePay confirmed in a statement that the outage was caused by a ransomware attack that “affected key systems required to process and settle transactions.” The company said it is working with incident response partners and forensic investigators to contain the outbreak and restore services safely.
While BridgePay did not disclose the specific ransomware strain involved or the identity of the threat actors, ransomware attacks typically involve threat groups encrypting critical systems and demanding payment — often in cryptocurrency — in exchange for decryption keys or a promise not to leak stolen data.
In its advisory to customers, BridgePay indicated that the cyberattack “compromised some internal systems,” triggering automatic shutdowns of core processing workflows to prevent further damage — a defensive move that, however, also took live payment processing offline.
Industry Impact: Disrupted Transactions Nationwide
The outage was first noticed by merchants and customers who reported failures in payment terminals and online checkouts across a wide range of businesses, including restaurants, bars, retail chains and hospitality venues. In many locations, merchants were unable to accept major card networks such as Visa, Mastercard and American Express until BridgePay systems were brought back online.
For customers, this meant sudden payment declines, checkout failures, and long queues at point-of-sale counters. Some businesses temporarily shifted to manual transaction processing or cash-only modes to continue operations. Industry observers said the outage revealed how a single cyber incident at a payment processor can cascade through entire retail ecosystems that depend on real-time card authorization and settlement services.
BridgePay’s systems serve a large network of merchants — including franchise chains and independent retailers — meaning the outage potentially affected millions of transactions over multiple days. The company did not provide an exact figure for total transaction volume affected.
Response and Recovery Efforts Underway
In its update, BridgePay said it is restoring service in phases and prioritising “the secure recovery of its systems.” The company reiterated that it was not aware of any evidence the ransomware attack resulted in unauthorized access to customer payment card data, and that it had notified law enforcement and relevant regulatory authorities.
For merchants, BridgePay recommended monitoring service dashboards and contacting customer support for updates as systems progressively come back online. Organisations with backup payment processors or fallback methods were able to resume some transaction activity sooner than those relying solely on the BridgePay platform.
Experts emphasised that in ransomware incidents affecting payment processors, rapid detection, containment and offline backup strategies are critical to mitigating operational impact and preserving transaction integrity while systems are restored.
Why This Matters: Ransomware and Payment Infrastructure
The BridgePay incident highlights the growing trend of ransomware attacks targeting critical financial infrastructure, including cloud-based payment processors and fintech service providers. Attackers increasingly see such organisations as high-value targets because of their essential role in everyday commerce and the potential operational disruption their compromise can cause.
Ransomware attacks on payment ecosystems can reverberate beyond a single company, forcing merchants, banks and customers alike to face transaction delays, manual workarounds and financial risk. Analysts say organisations in the fintech supply chain must strengthen resilience, segmentation and incident readiness to limit the damage from future breaches.
About the author – Rehan Khan is a law student and legal journalist with a keen interest in cybercrime, digital fraud, and emerging technology laws. He writes on the intersection of law, cybersecurity, and online safety, focusing on developments that impact individuals and institutions in India.
