BridgePay Ransomware Outage Continues, Grand Traverse County Payment Services Disrupted

BridgePay Network Solutions remains in an extended outage after a ransomware incident first detected early on Feb. 6, and the disruption has been logged by multiple municipalities including Grand Traverse County. BridgePay confirmed the incident as ransomware and has engaged cybersecurity professionals and federal authorities while recovery work continues without a firm restoration timeline; one company update suggested services "may be restored within the next week," but that projection is not final.

Company and forensic notes show the outage began as degraded performance on core payment systems before escalating to a full outage; monitoring first showed degraded responses around 3:29 a.m. and then broader failures across gateway and reporting systems. Impacted BridgePay components listed in vendor status messaging include the BridgePay Gateway API (BridgeComm), PayGuardian Cloud API, the MyBridgePay virtual terminal and reporting, hosted payment pages, and PathwayLink gateway and boarding portals.

BridgePay's initial forensic findings indicate no payment card data was compromised and that any files accessed were encrypted, with "no evidence of usable data exposure." Security analysts cited the FBI and U.S. Secret Service as engaged in the response, while also noting no public indicators of compromise or public attribution to a ransomware group have been released so far. Federal and forensic work remains ongoing and sources caution that initial disclosures can evolve as investigations proceed.

Local operational impacts are already visible. The City of Palm Bay posted: "BridgePay Network Solutions, our third-party credit card processing vendor, is experiencing a nationwide service disruption. As a result, the City's online billing payment portal is currently unavailable. We do not have an estimated restoration time." The City of Marietta posted on Feb. 13: "The City of Marietta is currently unable to process certain online credit card payments due to a recent service disruption by one of the City’s payment gateway providers. We are actively working to implement a secure alternative payment solution so online Business License payments can resume while the issue is being resolved." Marietta directed Business License customers to pay in person at City Hall's Business License Office, 205 Lawrence Street.

Anecdotal impacts extend to private businesses; an affected restaurant reported that its "credit card processing company had a cyber security breach" and that card payments "were unavailable nationwide." Some jurisdictions have implemented workarounds: Wichita credited an integrating vendor for restoring services, according to the city's communications director Megan Lovely, while other municipalities, Denton, Coppell, Frisco, Bryan and San Angelo utilities, a Wisconsin campground reservation system and Grand Traverse County, remain listed among affected entities.

For Grand Traverse County residents and municipal finance officials, practical steps mirror those advised elsewhere: monitor accounts for unusual activity, follow county notices for alternate payment options, and contact BridgePay or your local treasurer's office for specific instructions. The outage also underscores a policy and market issue: BridgePay is privately held and does not disclose its government market share, yet as a back-end gateway its failure can cascade across billing systems, prompting calls for contract redundancy, incident-response terms, and technical resiliency in municipal procurement.

Outstanding unknowns include whether any encrypted files will prove recoverable, whether BridgePay will publish technical indicators of compromise, and when core services will be fully restored. BridgePay continues to post status updates and coordinate with federal and recovery specialists as municipalities including Grand Traverse County evaluate short-term workarounds and longer-term vendor contingencies.