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Money transfer giant MoneyGram has confirmed that a cyberattack was responsible for the recent system outage that left customers without service for several days. The outage, which began on Friday, caused significant disruptions, with users unable to access the company’s services to send or receive money.
As one of the world’s largest money transfer companies, MoneyGram enables transactions across 200 countries through both digital channels and its network of 350,000 physical locations. With millions of customers relying on its services, the prolonged outage caused widespread frustration, particularly for those who depend on the platform for crucial money transfers.
Initially, MoneyGram referred to the issue as a “network outage” in its public statements.
However, on Monday, the company revealed that the real cause was a cybersecurity breach. In response, MoneyGram took immediate steps to address the situation by shutting down certain systems to protect against further damage, which impacted network connectivity and affected customer access to its platform.
The first signs of the problem surfaced on Friday, September 20, when users reported difficulties accessing their accounts or receiving funds. By Saturday, MoneyGram had publicly acknowledged the issue but only described it as a “network outage” without providing details about the underlying cause. It wasn’t until Monday that the company confirmed the problem was a cyberattack.
MoneyGram has enlisted the help of security experts to investigate the incident and is cooperating with law enforcement to resolve the breach. The company assured customers that it is working diligently to restore full functionality, although no specific timeline has been provided for when services will return to normal.
While the company has not disclosed the exact nature of the cyberattack, the extended loss of connectivity points to a possible ransomware attack, a type of cybercrime that can disrupt operations for extended periods. With such a large customer base, a potential data breach could have significant consequences for many users.
Security researchers note that cyberattacks on financial services are particularly concerning due to the sensitive nature of the data involved. As the investigation continues, MoneyGram’s primary focus is on securing its systems and resuming normal operations as quickly as possible.
