Travelex Says Financially Unaffected by Hacking

Travelex, the British-based foreign currency company, will not suffer any financial impact from a cyber attack on New Year’s Eve, its parent group said Wednesday.

Travelex, which detected a software virus on December 31 that compromised some services, stopped the virus spreading, it said in a statement.

Travelex had been forced to take its global websites offline on New Year’s Eve — with criminals reportedly seeking a ransom of $3.0 million (2.7 million euros) according to British press reports.

“Travelex has been successful in containing the spread of the ransomware,” it said, adding that the virus was also known as Sodinokibi and REvil.

“Travelex also confirms that whilst there has been some data encryption, there is no evidence that structured personal customer data has been encrypted, and that there is still no evidence that any data has been exfiltrated.”

Nevertheless, the share price of Travelex parent Finablr Group tanked by more than 17 percent to stand at £1.29 in early afternoon deals on the London stock market.

“Finablr’s other six brands are not affected and are operating normally,” the United Arab Emirates-based parent firm said in a separate statement.

“Finablr does not currently anticipate any material financial impact for the group, continues to monitor the situation closely and will update the market as required.”