MoneyGram International, one of the world’s largest money transfer companies, has confirmed that it suffered a cyberattack that has disrupted its services since September 22.
The company has been grappling with system outages and connectivity issues, leaving millions of customers unable to transfer or access funds. The incident has forced MoneyGram to take certain systems offline, and its website remains inaccessible.
In an official statement, MoneyGram acknowledged the severity of the situation, stating, “MoneyGram recently identified a cybersecurity issue affecting certain of our systems.
Upon detection, we immediately launched an investigation and took protective steps to address it, including proactively taking systems offline, which impacted network connectivity.”
The company emphasised that it is working diligently with external experts and law enforcement to resolve the issue.
While MoneyGram has not provided specific details regarding the nature of the cyberattack, the extended outage has led many to speculate that a ransomware attack may be involved.
Ransomware attacks have been on the rise in 2024, with victims paying more than $460 million in ransoms in H1 2024 alone. Though no known ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the attack, the shutdown of key systems suggests that file-encrypting malware could be the culprit.
According to Security Week, Zscaler is aware of a company that paid a record-breaking $75 million ransom to the Dark Angels ransomware group, the cybersecurity firm revealed in its ThreatLabz 2024 Ransomware Report.
Data collected by the company between April 2023 and April 2024 shows an 18% year-over-year increase in ransomware attacks, according to the report.
As for the record-breaking ransom payment, the company said it was paid by an unnamed victim in early 2024. According to Zscaler, $75 million is nearly double the highest publicly known ransom payment.
The MoneyGram outage has caused significant disruption for its vast customer base, which includes tens of millions of users across 200 countries.
As the second-largest money transfer firm in the world, behind Western Union, MoneyGram processes over 120 million transactions annually.
The sudden inability for customers to send or receive payments has raised concerns about potential data breaches and the long-term impact on the company’s reputation.
MoneyGram has assured customers that it is prioritising the restoration of its services but has not provided a timeline for when full functionality will return.
In the meantime, users are left waiting for updates on when they can regain access to their funds and complete pending transactions.
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