Paz freezes the purchase of Bitcoin on Yellow app following cyber incident at Bits of Gold
The choice was made over concern that names, ID numbers, and contact details of Bits of Gold customers were leaked. Paz: “there's no risk to Yellow users' data, but the service has been suspended until the investigation concludes.”
Paz is freezing the option to buy Bitcoin through its partnership with crypto services company Bits of Gold, following the cyber incident the company reported yesterday. As Calcalist reported last month, the two companies had signed a deal letting Yellow app users convert their accumulated points into a Bitcoin purchase.
Yesterday, Bits of Gold reported a cyber incident that occurred several days earlier, in which customer data was apparently stolen, including full names, ID numbers, email and IP addresses, and phone numbers. The incident is part of a broader global breach of the software company Meta Base, which Bits of Gold relies on. Estimates put the number of affected companies worldwide in the hundreds, though at this stage no other Israeli company is known to have been hit.
Until the investigation wraps up, Paz has decided to freeze the collaboration and remove the option to convert wallet balances into Bitcoin purchases at Bits of Gold.
Paz said: "There is no concern of a leak of Yellow customers' information. There is no direct interface between the apps, and the service has been halted."
Bits of Gold said: "We see supreme importance in preserving the security of customers' information. There is no direct interface between the apps for carrying out purchases, so there is no concern of an information leak. In a joint decision, we acted to temporarily halt the service with Yellow. The collaboration agreement between the companies is valid. The rest of Bits of Gold's services continue to operate as usual, normally and fully."
For Bits of Gold, which employs about 55 people and serves roughly 250,000 registered customers, the Paz deal marks its most significant expansion into B2B2C activity. The company has previously signed similar partnerships, including issuing the "MAX Back Crypto" credit card with MAX (offering Bitcoin cashback based on card usage), and enabling crypto payments at car importer Colmobil. Bits of Gold is the first of the 9 companies currently operating in the market to receive a license from the Capital Market Authority to provide financial services in digital assets.
