WorldPay, which is owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland, serves over 27,000 businesses throughout the world, from large corporations to small on-line vendors. It operates as a one-stop-shop payment system, allowing retailers to process different payment types and currencies from all over the world.
However, retailers have been badly affected over the past few days after the payment system was brought down by a denial-of-service attack (which involved the WorldPay system being bombarded with false computer-generated requests). The system was down completely for much of Tuesday of this week but began to function again on Wednesday after the company put extra security measures in place.
This attack on WorldPay follows a summer of high profile internet virus activity which has shook business confidence in using the internet for conducting trade.
Compensation for loss of business may be on offer to WorldPay customers. According to vnunet.com, a spokesman for the company confirmed:
"We are willing to enter into dialogue with retailers on a case-by-case judgement, but our priority now is getting the service restored."