For the time being, cash is the trump card in German retail: the electronic payment terminals in many supermarkets and shops have been running for days. There is now an update that should solve the problems with the payment devices of the American provider Verifone. However, this is not yet mature enough to be used across the board, said Verifone partner Payone. It will likely take days to resolve the issue.
Thousands of customers have been unable to pay with pin or credit card at many German retailers since Tuesday. Branches of Aldi Nord, Edeka and Edeka subsidiary Netto, among others, are affected. The background is a malfunction in the widespread Verifone device H5000. It is used by Payone and its competitor Concardis, among others. The service providers deliver the devices and process the payments. The terminals and software come from Verifone.
Update must be done on site
Manual on-site intervention by the retailer or a technician is required to get the devices back online, Payone said, citing Verifone. All available sources for the update have already been brought together. “Nevertheless, we assume that this process cannot be done ad hoc in the area, but will likely take several days,” said a Payone spokeswoman. Apart from that, alternatives would be developed so that cards can be accepted again as soon as possible.
Verifone announced that they had developed an update. We are working hard with customers and partners to provide this solution for the affected terminals. “We would like to emphasize that the issue is not related to certificate expiration or vulnerability and does not pose a security risk,” the statement said. Rather, it is a software glitch. Previously, there was speculation that the problems could be due to an expired certificate confirming the identity of a computer or other electronic device.
Retail customers annoyed for days
The outage has been causing problems in German retail for days. Many customers can only pay for their purchases in cash. If the debit card does not work, it is no longer possible to withdraw cash at the checkout of the supermarket. Exactly which functions are disrupted differs: only some terminals do not allow debit card payments. Other terminals are no longer usable. Retailers also seem to be able to achieve different speeds with the solution. An internet spokeswoman said: “We have largely solved the problem in our branches.”
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
