Travelex announced today it is restoring operations to process foreign exchange orders electronically, almost two weeks after cyber criminals took hold of its systems, leading to a global blackout of its online services.
Travelex staff were forced to go back to the days of pen and paper to help serve thousands of customers after a ransomware attack forced the exchange giant to take all its systems offline, resulting in mass chaos for New Year holidaymakers and business travelers looking for online currency services.
The company claims, "We continue to make good progress with our recovery and have already completed a considerable amount in the background", adding "we are not at the point where we are able to start restoring functionality in our partner and customer service."
Travelex said it has restored some of its internal and order processing systems and is providing refunds to customers "where appropriate". The company also claims it will continue to communicate with partners about restoring services and "provide a roadmap" outlining its next steps.
The currency trader also provides foreign exchange services to the customers of HSBC, Virgin Money, and Tesco and Sainsbury's banking arms.
The company, which provides services in more than 70 countries, was forced to serve customers face-to-face at 1,200 locations worldwide after being hit by ransomware called Sodinokibi. Hackers demanded $6 million in ransomware be paid or risk their user files being encrypted and unusable. However, the company insists there is no evidence to suggest that customer data has been compromised.
Travelex continues to work with the National Cyber Security Centre and London's Metropolitan Police to further investigate.
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