No ‘material financial impact’ on Travelex owner expected after cyber attack

The parent company of Travelex has said it is not expecting a significant financial impact after the foreign exchange giant was targeted by hackers.

The firm was forced to take down all its global websites after they were the target of a cyber attack on New Year’s Eve.

It is understood criminals are demanding cash – speculated to be some three million US dollars (£2.3 million) – from Travelex to give the firm access to its computer systems after they attacked the sites with the infamous Sodinokibi ransomware.

The hackers reportedly threatened to release 5GB of customers’ personal data – including social security numbers, dates of birth and payment card information – into the public domain unless the company pays up.

A company spokesperson confirmed that they do not expect any “material financial impact” on United Arab Emirates-based Finablr, its parent company.

Travelex itself has not declared any material financial impact to the market.

Travelex has opened an investigation and confirmed on Tuesday that while there has been some data encryption, and the extent is not yet known, there is no evidence that structured personal customer data has been breached.

The company said it is working towards total recovery after successfully containing affected areas and has managed to restore a number of internal systems.

As part of a detailed forensic analysis, the firm added there is also no evidence that data has been transferred from the Travelex system, known as exfiltration.

Tony D’Souza, chief executive of Travelex, said: “Our focus is on communicating directly with our partners and customers to protect them and their information from any further compromise.

“We take very seriously our responsibility to protect the privacy and security of our partner and customers’ data as well as provide an excellent service to our customers and we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.

“Travelex continues to offer services to its customers on a manual basis and is continuing to provide alternative customer solutions in the interim. We are working tirelessly to bring our systems back online.”

A joint investigation between the National Crime Agency and the Metropolitan Police is ongoing.

London-headquartered Travelex has a presence in more than 70 countries and more than 1,200 branches and 1,000 ATMs worldwide.

It processes more than 5,000 currency transactions every hour.