A cashless payments firm whose services are used by a Hitchin secondary school have apologised to concerned parents after a cyberattack occurred.

The firm called WisePay, employed by Hitchin Boys' School, faced an attempt by hackers to steal money through its card payment page earlier this month.

The WisePay system allows parents and guardians to make cashless payments to schools and colleges across the county including HBS on Grammar School Walk.

The company initially said that their website was down for 'maintenance', prompting concerns that pupils accounts could not be topped up for lunches or other items the school sells.

However, 'the outage' was a proactive decision to prevent the cyber attackers from capturing bank and credit card details from parents.

In a letter sent to parents who were worried that their bank accounts could have been compromised, Wisepay said sorry.

"We would like to offer our most sincere apologies for any inconvenience and temporary lack of service caused as a direct result of the recent cyberattack on WisePay," the company wrote in correspondence seen by Nub News.

"Thank you very much for your patience and understanding. We know how important our service is for you and please be assured we are working hard to ensure it's always there for you.

"As you are aware, criminal hackers conducted a cyberattack on your school's WisePay platform starting late on Friday, October 2. We identified it on Monday, October 5, and the WisePay security team promptly found and resolved the root cause within hours.

"We immediately took remedial measures to protect you and then also implemented additional checks and procedures common to the affected areas to ensure platform security. These resolutions have been validated and approved by a third-party, CREST-approved penetration testing company.

"This vulnerability was unforeseen by us and exploited by these criminal hackers. We deeply regret the inconvenience caused to those affected by this incident."

WisePay reported the matter to the UK supervisory authority, as well as to law enforcement.

They have also enhanced the parent support area on their website specifically regarding this incident.