We wouldn't be surprised if users of Samsung Pay had heart palpitations when word spread earlier that LoopPay, the now Samsung-owned company whose technology is apparently "central" to the tech giant's new mobile payment service, was breached.
Samsung, however, claims there's nothing to be worried about.
The New York Times reported that Loop Pay was the target of a "sophisticated attack by a group of government-affiliated Chinese hackers," but Samsung issued a statement that said its new mobile payment system was unaffected.
"The first thing to know is that Samsung Pay was not impacted and at no point was any personal payment information at risk," Samsung wrote in a blog post. "This was an isolated incident that targeted the LoopPay office network, which is a physically separate network from Samsung Pay."
The Times reported that the attack began as early as March and was carried out by a group known as the "Codoso Group" or "Sunshock Group." The hackers were reportedly after LoopPay's magnetic secure transmission technology, which the Times said "is a key part of the Samsung Pay mobile payment wallet."
Samsung, however, says the breach affected three servers on LoopPay's internal office network, which handle email, file servers, and printing. That network is separate from the one that handles Samsung Pay transactions.
As soon as LoopPay caught wind of the issue, the company brought in two independent professional security teams, identified and quarantined the targeted devices, analyzed its entire system to determine the extent of the breach, and put additional safeguards in place, Samsung said. The company added that the problem has been "resolved" and reiterated that it had nothing to do with Samsung Pay.
"We're confident that Samsung Pay is safe and secure," Samsung said. "Each transaction uses a digital token to replace a card number. The encrypted token combined with certificate information can only be used once to make a payment. Merchants and retailers can't see or store the actual card data."