Alipay service interruption prompts questions about backup system

The sudden breakdown of Alibaba’s (BABA.NYSE) Alipay online payment system for 2 1/2 hours this week has raised questions about the backup systems in place to ensure transactions can be made by users, Caixin reported. A post from the Sina Weibo microblog account for the Alipay Wallet app – owned by Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial Services Group – said the glitch had been caused by cables for the service near a Hangzhou construction site having been cut accidentally. Caixin cited one unnamed source with ties to China’s banking regulator as saying that the cutoff was “a major security incident,” and that problems lasting more than half an hour had to be reported to officials.