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Mastercard V-DIG

DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE AUDIT UPDATED 2026-06-02
V-DIG Score 4.71 /10 C Mastercard — BDS-1000 471
V-DIG 4.71

Evidence-only forensic audit. Scoring happens downstream — see the main dossier for the composite assessment.

V-DIG Audit: Mastercard

Enterprise Technology Stack & Vendor Relationships

Mastercard maintains several significant technology relationships and investments in Israel that form part of its enterprise technology stack. The company acquired Dynamic Yield Ltd, an Israeli artificial intelligence personalization platform, from McDonald’s in March 2021 with the transaction closing in 2022 12. Dynamic Yield operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Mastercard with its primary research and development center located in Tel Aviv 3. The acquisition provided Mastercard with AI-driven personalization, customer engagement decisioning, A/B testing, and recommendation engine capabilities 12.

Mastercard and Enel X were selected by the Israel Innovation Authority to establish and operate the FinSec Innovation Lab, a fintech cyber innovation facility located in Beersheba’s Gav-Yam Negev High-Tech Park 4. The lab received approximately NIS 13 million in funding from the Israel Innovation Authority and was inaugurated in November 2021 56. This three-year licensed operation represents Mastercard’s participation in Israel’s cybersecurity and financial technology ecosystem 546.

In April 2019, the Governor of the Bank of Israel granted Mastercard Inc. a permit to hold a 10 percent stake in Shva (Automated Banking Services Ltd), Israel’s national payment card switching company 7. Mastercard purchased this stake from Bank Hapoalim under regulatory approval, establishing a direct equity relationship with Israel’s critical payment infrastructure 89.

No public evidence has been identified confirming direct licensing relationships between Mastercard and Check Point, CyberArk, Wiz, SentinelOne, Claroty, Palo Alto Networks, Verint, NICE Systems, or Amdocs. Prior assertions citing Claroty’s partner page as evidence represent citation errors, as that page documents Claroty’s own alliances rather than Mastercard’s procurement decisions. No evidence has been identified of systems integrators mandating or bundling Israeli-origin technology in Mastercard-facing programmes.

Surveillance, Biometrics & Retail Technology

Mastercard operates a Biometric Checkout Program that enables payment authentication through face scan or palm print technologies 1011. The program has publicly documented technology partners including NEC, Payface, Aurus, PopID, and Fujitsu 1011. No Israeli facial recognition or biometric vendors have been named in programme disclosures.

The company launched the “Shop Anywhere” cashier-less retail platform circa 2020 10. Confirmed technology partners for this platform are Accel Robotics (San Diego) and Zippin (US-based) 10. No Israeli-origin vendors have been confirmed in connection with the Shop Anywhere program.

NuData Security, a Mastercard subsidiary acquired in 2017, is a Canadian company specializing in behavioral biometrics 10. Mastercard’s April 2024 AI fraud suite incorporates behavioral biometrics capabilities; however, no third-party Israeli behavioral biometrics provider has been named in public disclosures 10.

No public evidence has been identified of Mastercard deploying Israeli-origin predictive policing, sentiment analysis, social media monitoring, or workforce surveillance tools. The surveillance, biometrics, and retail technology sections reflect standard commercial partnerships without confirmed Israeli government or defense-adjacent technology integrations.

Cloud Infrastructure, Data Residency & Sovereign Cloud Participation

Mastercard operates domestic transaction switching within Israel, which is required by Bank of Israel regulations for domestic payment processing 78. Specific hosting arrangements including physical data centers, co-location, or cloud regions are not publicly disclosed.

Project Nimbus is a multi-billion dollar cloud infrastructure contract between the Israeli government and Google Cloud/AWS, awarded in 2021 12. No public evidence has been identified of Mastercard being a signatory, provider, or documented participant in Project Nimbus 12.

Dynamic Yield Ltd, as an Israeli subsidiary conducting research and development in Tel Aviv, is subject to Israeli data protection law (Protection of Privacy Law 5741-1981) and the Defence Export Control Law (5766-2007) 13. Dynamic Yield maintains GDPR compliance and operates under Mastercard’s Binding Corporate Rules 13. The precise legal regimes governing data access and whether customer data processed at the Tel Aviv center is accessible to Israeli state authorities have not been detailed in public filings.

Defence, Intelligence & Security Sector Technology Relationships

No public evidence has been identified of Mastercard holding contracts with Israeli Ministry of Defence, IDF, Shin Bet, or Mossad. The FinSec Innovation Lab partnership involves the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) as one of three state bodies (alongside the Israel Innovation Authority and Ministry of Finance) that issued the tender 4. The INCD is a civilian cyber-defence body, and this relationship does not constitute a military or kinetic intelligence relationship.

The Recorded Future acquisition was announced in September 2024 and completed in late 2024, which was after the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion issued in July 2024 1415. No public statements by Mastercard acknowledging or responding to the ICJ Advisory Opinion or ICC arrest warrants have been identified. Dynamic Yield research and development operations in Tel Aviv continue as of the last available public information; no announcement of winding down, restructuring, or relocating the R&D center has been identified post-July 2024.

No public evidence has been identified of Mastercard’s commercial technology being confirmed as deployed for military, intelligence, or law enforcement surveillance within Israel or occupied territories. No public evidence has been identified of Mastercard developing, licensing, selling, or maintaining offensive cyber capabilities, zero-day exploit tools, or digital weapons systems.

AI, Algorithmic & Autonomous Systems

No public evidence has been identified of Mastercard providing AI systems, machine learning models, computer vision infrastructure, or autonomous decision-support tools directly to Israeli state, military, or security bodies.

Mastercard acquired Recorded Future, a US-based threat intelligence company, in September 2024 for approximately $2.65 billion 1415. Recorded Future serves governments of 45 countries, including Israeli government clients 1415. The company was founded by Christopher Ahlberg (Swedish-American), with no Israeli founding team specifically identified; no Israeli R&D center has been documented 1415.

No public evidence has been identified of Mastercard AI models being trained on surveillance-derived, intercepted communications, or civilian population datasets originating from Israel or occupied territories. No Mastercard AI system has been identified as purpose-built for kinetic targeting or weapons effects.

Technology Ecosystem & R&D Footprint

The Dynamic Yield R&D team operates in Tel Aviv (One Tower, Ramat Gan), serving as Mastercard’s Israel country headquarters 123. The team focuses on AI-driven personalization, customer engagement decisioning, A/B testing, and recommendation engines 12. Co-founders Liad Agmon and Omri Mendellevich are publicly documented as Unit 8200 veterans per Israeli technology press sources 3.

The FinSec Innovation Lab in Beersheba shows evidence of continued activity in 2024 (AI Day 2024 sponsorship, Q3 2024 Startup Nation Finder report) and 2025 (FinTech Junction panel participation) 16. The original three-year license from 2020 (operative 2021-2024) has not been explicitly confirmed as renewed beyond this term 16.

Other Mastercard acquisitions include NuData Security (Canada, 2017), Ethoca (Canada, 2019), RiskRecon (USA, 2020), Brighterion (USA, 2017), and Recorded Future (USA, 2024) 1415. These acquisitions represent non-Israeli origin technology portfolio additions.

Civil Society Scrutiny & Regulatory History

Mastercard is NOT listed in the UN OHCHR settlement enterprise database (2023 iteration) based on database scope review 17. Mastercard is NOT specifically named in UN A/HRC/59/23 (Albanese July 2025) in the searchable excerpts of the companies list 17. Mastercard is NOT listed in Don’t Buy Into Occupation V (November 2025) report among the 104 target companies 18.

The Who Profits database lists Mastercard as a “partner” to Booking.com and Expedia 1920. These are primary companies with settlement listings; Mastercard appears in connection with these partners rather than as a primary entry 1920.

No public evidence has been identified of organized BDS campaigns or investor divestment initiatives specifically targeting Mastercard on the basis of its Israeli R&D operations, FinSec Lab participation, or Dynamic Yield acquisition. No public evidence has been identified of regulatory inquiries, export control proceedings, foreign investment review actions, or sanctions-related investigations involving Mastercard’s technology sales, services, or R&D activities in Israel.

No public evidence identified.

End Notes

Footnotes

  1. https://investor.mastercard.com/investor-news/investor-news-details/2021/Mastercard-to-Add-to-Services-Momentum-with-Acquisition-of-Dynamic-Yield-McDonalds-Cutting-Edge-Personalization-Platform/default.aspx ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. https://investor.mastercard.com/investor-news/investor-news-details/2022/Mastercard-Strengthens-Consumer-Engagement-Services-With-Close-of-Dynamic-Yield-Acquisition/default.aspx ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3925483,00.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. https://innovationisrael.org.il/en/press_release/mastercard-and-enel-x-selected-to-establish-and-operate-a-fintech-cyber-innovation-lab/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. https://www.enel.com/media/explore/search-press-releases/press/2021/11/enel-x-and-mastercard-inaugurate-the-finsec-innovation-lab-in-israel ↩ ↩2

  6. https://www.timesofisrael.com/mastercard-opens-fintech-cybersecurity-innovation-lab-in-beersheba/ ↩ ↩2

  7. https://www.boi.org.il/en/communication-and-publications/press-releases/the-governor-of-the-bank-of-israel-granted-mastercard-inc-a-permit-to-hold-10-percent-of-the-shares-of-shva ↩ ↩2

  8. https://www.reuters.com/article/business/israel-approves-mastercard-stake-in-bank-services-firm-shva-idUSKCN1S611N ↩ ↩2

  9. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/2019-04-30/ty-article/bank-of-israel-approves-sale-of-stake-in-financial-services-firm-to-mastercard/0000017f-f82e-d47e-a37f-f93e6a120000 ↩

  10. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/17/mastercard-launches-tech-that-lets-you-pay-with-your-face-or-hand.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  11. https://developer.mastercard.com/blog/biometric-checkout/ ↩ ↩2

  12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Nimbus ↩ ↩2

  13. https://www.dynamicyield.com/gdpr-and-privacy ↩ ↩2

  14. https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2024/september/mastercard-invests-in-continued-defense-of-global-digital-economy-with-acquisition-of-recorded-future.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  15. https://www.recordedfuture.com/newsroom/press-releases/mastercard-to-acquire-recorded-future ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  16. https://finder.startupnationcentral.org/investor_page/finsec-innovation-lab?section=news ↩ ↩2

  17. https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc5923-economy-occupation-economy-genocide-report-special-rapporteur ↩ ↩2

  18. https://dontbuyintooccupation.org ↩

  19. https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/3768 ↩ ↩2

  20. https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/7282 ↩ ↩2