MoneyGram suspends services to contain cyber attack

NEW YORK: MoneyGram, a US-based financial services firm that enables users to transfer money, pay bills and trade in cryptocurrencies, has been forced to suspend services in the wake of an ongoing cyber security incident, the precise nature of which remains unclear.

The issue appears to have begun sometime on Friday 20 September, when customers began to report problems, but it was at first identified as a simple network outage affecting connectivity.

Following further investigation, MoneyGram posted more details of the incident to social platform X on Monday 23 September. It said: “MoneyGram recently identified a cyber security 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.

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“We are working with leading external cyber security experts and coordinating with law enforcement. We recognise the importance and urgency of this matter to our customers and partners. We are working diligently to bring our systems back online and resume normal business operations.”

Among the downstream customers affected are the Post Office in the UK, which offers access to MoneyGram services in branches up and down the country. In a brief statement posted to its website, the Post Office said: “For now, you can’t use MoneyGram services online or in branch, including online support. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

SPECULATION

Inevitably, discussion of the ongoing incident will draw speculation that MoneyGram has fallen victim to a ransomware attack of some nature – the fact that it has been forced to take some of its own systems offline to contain the attack is often a strong indication that financially-motivated cyber criminals have gained access to a network and deployed a ransomware locker. However, at the time of writing, MoneyGram has made no statement in this regard.