- Checkout.com refuses to pay ransom to ShinyHunters after breach
- Instead, he will donate the ransom amount to two universities.
- CTO Mariano Albera highlights “security, transparency and trust”
Checkout.com CTO Mariano Albera has confirmed that the company was the target of a digital extortion attempt by the ShinyHunters group during the first week of November 2025, but that the result may not be as expected.
The attackers accessed a legacy third-party cloud file storage system that Checkout.com had not properly taken down, affecting internal operating documents and merchant onboarding materials from 2020 and earlier.
“We estimate that this would affect less than 25% of our current commercial base,” Albera said.
Due to the nature of the breach, live payment processing systems were not affected and the attackers did not access merchant funds or card numbers.
CTO Mariano Albera publicly apologized for the incident and took full responsibility for oversight. However, Checkout.com confirmed that it would not pay the ransom demanded by ShinyHunters: “We will not be extorted by criminals. We will not pay this ransom.”
The company has chosen to donate the ransom amount to Carnegie Mellon University and the Oxford University Cyber Security Center “to support their research in the fight against cybercrime.”
“Security, transparency and trust are the foundation of our industry. We will be accountable for our mistakes, protect our merchants and invest in the fight against criminal actors that threaten our digital economy,” Albera added.
Checkout.com has been praised for its transparency and refusal to fund criminal activities. It is unclear how much has been donated to the two university research centers.
In the meantime, Checkout.com is communicating with affected customers and coordinating with authorities and regulators.
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