EquiLend, a global financial technology, data and analytics company, suffered a cyberattack – possibly ransomware – that knocked parts of its digital infrastructure offline.
In a press release, EquiLend said its engineers identified a “technical issue on January 22, 2024 that caused parts of our system to go offline.” Following an investigation, the company identified a cybersecurity incident in which unnamed threat actors gained unauthorized access.
“We have taken immediate steps to secure our systems and are working methodically to restore affected services as quickly as possible,” the press release reads.
Aimed at merging companies
To address the problem and restore services, EquiLend brought in third-party cybersecurity professionals and “other professional advisors.” The process could take several days, according to the press release.
The company was founded in 2001 by a consortium of financial service providers. Founding members include Barclays Global Investors, Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, JPMorganChase, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Northern Trust, State Street and UBS Warburg.
From The recordThe company’s goal was to improve the efficiency of the securities finance industry and to this end it has created a centralized platform for trading and post-trade services. EquiLend now operates a regulated platform called NGT that serves more than $2.4 trillion in monthly transactions.
A spokesperson for a global consortium of financial institutions told CNN that companies would have to switch to manual processes while the platform was down, The Record reported.
Recently the FBI warned Hacker companies that specifically target companies involved in mergers or acquisitions. Last week, EquiLend announced that it will soon be acquired by Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS), a private equity firm from the United States. Following regulatory approval, the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of the year.
Through BleepingComputer