Danish Nets payment system malfunction due to technical glitch
Nets' Three-Hour Payment System Outage: A Closer Look
Nets, the Danish card payment company responsible for approximately 80% of all transactions in Denmark, experienced a significant system outage on July 19, 2025. The outage, which lasted for around three hours, affected ATM and POS terminal use across Dankort, Visa, and Mastercard, causing disruption both domestically and abroad.
The cause of the outage was traced back to a rare component failure in Nets' systems, specifically in an underlying infrastructure located with a global partner. However, the details about the global partner involved in the infrastructure failure remain undisclosed.
During the outage, business owners and customers criticized Nets' communication, expressing concerns about the lack of clear and timely information. In response, Nets has acknowledged the need to improve its communication processes during outages and has plans to review its procedures to address this issue.
In an effort to mitigate such incidents in the future, Nets is rolling out a new offline function. This function will allow international cards or mobile phones to be used in situations where the main system is offline. However, no specifics about the implementation timeline or how the new offline function will be marketed to merchants have been provided.
Despite the Danish regulatory requirements for digital bookkeeping and IT security, which include continuous transaction recording, reliable archiving, recognized IT security standards, user/access management, and automatic backup systems, the outage was significant enough to stop card payment functionality nationwide and abroad, suggesting a critical system failure that overwhelmed or bypassed existing backup or failover mechanisms.
Furthermore, no information is available on Nets’ recovery timeline or post-incident evaluation of backup effectiveness. Allan Bonke, Nets' country director for Denmark, has stated that they have spent several days analyzing the cause of the fault and assured that it will not happen again.
The outage disrupted card payments across Denmark, causing disruption at the Great Belt Bridge tolls and the Musik i Lejet music festival. As Nets works towards improving its systems and communication, it is crucial for businesses and customers to stay informed and prepared for any potential future outages.
Articles about the outage at Nets, the Danish payment company, have been flooded with news about the system outage and its impact on customers and businesses. Among these, a piece of technology that could potentially prevent future disasters is the new offline function Nets is introducing. This technology, when implemented, will enable international cards or mobile phones to be used even when the main system is offline, highlighting a proactive step towards a more resilient payment system. However, there is still no clear news on when and how this technology will be rolled out and marketed to merchants.
