- Checkout.com refuses to pay ransom to ShinyHunters after breach
- It will instead donate the ransom to two universities
- CTO Mariano Albera emphasizes “security, transparency and trust”
Checkout.com CTO Mariano Albera has confirmed that the company was hit by a digital extortion attempt by the group ShinyHunters during the first week of November 2025, but the result might not be what you would expect.
Attackers accessed an older third-party cloud file storage system that had not been properly decommissioned by Checkout.com, affecting internal operating documents and merchant onboarding materials from 2020 and earlier.
“We estimate this will affect less than 25% of our current merchant base,” Albera noted.
Due to the nature of the breach, live payment processing systems were not affected and the attackers did not gain access to merchant funds or card numbers.
CTO Mariano Albera publicly apologized for the incident and took full responsibility for the oversight. However, Checkout.com confirmed that it would not pay the ransom demanded by ShinyHunters: “We will not be blackmailed by criminals. We will not pay this ransom.”
The company has chosen to donate the ransom to Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Oxford Cyber Security Center “to support their research in the fight against cybercrime.”
“Security, transparency and trust are the foundations of our industry. We will own our mistakes, protect our merchants and invest in the fight against the criminal actors who threaten our digital economy,” Albera added.
Checkout.com has been praised for its transparency and refusal to fund criminal activity. It is unclear how much has been donated to the two university research centers.
In the meantime, Checkout.com is contacting affected customers and coordinating with law enforcement and regulatory authorities.
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