Malware Attack Forces Travelex to Suspend Services

The last several years have marked by multiple major malware attacks, and 2019 was no exception. In fact, the hackers did not allow the year to end quietly, but instead, they targeted a major international currency exchange on the very last day of the year, December 31st.

Travelex Shuts Down Services

The exchange in question, London-based Travelex, was forced to shut down a number of its services as a result of the hack.

Statement on IT issues affecting Travelex Services pic.twitter.com/rpKagJLykn

— Travelex UK (@TravelexUK) January 2, 2020

Travelex owns over 1,500 stores around the world, and it claims that the decision to take its systems offline came as a precaution. Its primary goal was to protect data and stop the malware from spreading further than it already did. For now, the UK version of its site still remains offline, and those who try to access it will receive a ‘server error’ page. Meanwhile, its corporate website went offline, supposedly due to ‘upgrades.’ The exchange also published an announcement on Twitter, stating that its staff cannot perform transactions via the app.

Hi Izzy, we're currently having IT issues and are extremely sorry for any inconvenience. At this stage, we’re unable to perform transactions on the website or through the app. Sorry again for any inconvenience and we’re working around the clock to fix the issues.

— Travelex UK (@TravelexUK) January 2, 2020

At the same time, a number of its stores had to process customer requests manually.

The Exchange Remains Secretive

The hack did not only affect the exchange but also businesses that are partnered with it, such as Tesco Bank.

Unfortunately our on-line Travel Money service is currently unavailable due to IT issues at our partner, Travelex. In the meantime, you can still visit one of our in-store bureaux to collect or purchase your currency. Sorry for any inconvenience – Brogan

— Tesco Bank Help (@tescobankhelp) January 2, 2020

But, despite the struggles during the outage, the exchange stated that it did not lose any customer data so far. Even so, it did not provide evidence to support the claim, nor did it release additional details regarding the attack. In fact, it did not even reveal which malware attacked its systems, supposedly due to an ongoing investigation. At this time, many suspect that the exchange may have been hit by ransomware, as a number of high-profile firms experienced similar attacks during 2019. The same is true for multiple state and local governments, such as New Orleans, which went as far as to proclaim a state of emergency last month due to such an attack.

---

Images are courtesy of Twitter, Shutterstock, Pixabay.