Switzerland plans to keep card payments working during an internet outage

The Federal Council presented a plan in Bern to ensure digital payments keep working even if the internet network is disrupted. The announcement was made by Confederation President Guy Parmelin, together with the president of the Swiss National Bank's governing board Martin Schlegel and the delegate for national economic supply Roland Pfister. The system should be operational by the end of 2027.

Switzerland is thus following the example of several Northern European countries, which already have similar systems in place. The measure addresses a concrete need: around two million transactions are carried out with physical cards every day in the country.

In the event of a blackout, it will be possible to pay in shops with a physical debit or credit card by entering a PIN code. The mechanism will not work with smartphones or with cards issued abroad. The transaction will still be accepted, but the data will not be sent immediately to the card issuer: it will remain stored in the shop's system until the connection is restored.

The system will be limited to essential goods, available mainly in grocery stores, pharmacies and petrol stations, with the aim of guaranteeing the population's daily supply. Spending caps and a maximum number of allowed transactions are also planned, to limit the risk arising from the impossibility of checking in real time whether funds are available on the card.

The question of responsibility

Cybersecurity and digital forensics expert Alessandro Trivilini welcomed the initiative, stressing the importance, in the digital age, of "farsi trovare pronti" (being prepared). According to Trivilini, the project has "un valore molto importante per cittadini, aziende, istituzioni e per tutta la comunicazione quotidiana che caratterizza la nostra società" (a very important value for citizens, businesses, institutions and for all the daily communication that characterises our society).

Trivilini points to a critical issue, however: during a blackout, responsibility for transactions would shift from banks, which have sophisticated security systems, to individual shopkeepers, who would have to safeguard sensitive data without the same protective tools, risking a cyberattack.

According to the expert, the real challenge will be handling such incidents: "La preparazione e la gestione di questi incidenti sarà la vera prova del nove per capire chi ha la responsabilità di tutta la catena, la filiera delle transazioni dei pagamenti" (preparing for and managing these incidents will be the real acid test for determining who is responsible along the whole payment transaction chain). If a shop were to suffer a theft, once the connection is restored it would need every tool to reconstruct what happened, so that the stolen value can be traced, restored and reimbursed.