Travelex takes down website and mobile app following malware attack

(Image credit: Shutterstock.com / ymgerman)

Foreign currency seller Travelex has been forced to take its website offline following a large-scale cyberattack.

The company confirmed it had suffered a serious malware attack on New Year's Eve, and would be suspending its online operations and mobile app whilst it fixed the damage. 

Travelex said that its initial investigation found, "no indication that any personal or customer data has been compromised", but that other banks that use its travel money services, including Tesco Bank, have been affected.

Suspended

The UK Travelex website is currently still offline, dispalying a "server error" page, but the company's social media pages still appear to be in operation.

"We regret having to suspend some of our services in order to contain the virus and protect data," Travelex boss Tony D'Souza said in a statement.

"We apologise to all our customers for any inconvenience caused as a result," Mr D'Souza added, "We are doing all we can to restore our full services as soon as possible."

Customers will still be able to carry out transactions in Travelex stores acrossd the country, but Travelex confirmed that staff are “unable to perform transactions on the website or through the app.”

Travelex says it has now deployed "teams of IT specialists and external cyber-security experts", who have been "working continuously since New Year's Eve to isolate the virus and restore affected systems".

There's no news yet on what virus or malware was used in the attack, with no cybercrime group yet to claim responsibility.

Mike Moore
Deputy Editor, TechRadar Pro

Mike Moore is Deputy Editor at TechRadar Pro. He has worked as a B2B and B2C tech journalist for nearly a decade, including at one of the UK's leading national newspapers and fellow Future title ITProPortal, and when he's not keeping track of all the latest enterprise and workplace trends, can most likely be found watching, following or taking part in some kind of sport.