The company, which runs around 500 veterinary practices globally and employs 9,000 staff, said it reacted to limit the impact of the attack
Veterinary giant CVS Group has reported “considerable operational disruption” following a cyber attack this past week.
The company, which operates approximately 500 veterinary practices worldwide, said it took immediate action to limit the impact of the attack, but its UK operations were particularly affected. The incident involved “unauthorised external access” to a limited number of its IT systems, according to CVS.
In an attempt to prevent further unauthorised access, the company temporarily took its IT systems offline, a move that successfully thwarted the hackers but had a “considerable” impact on operations. Specialist third-party consultants are currently investigating the incident and authorities such as the Information Commissioner’s Office have been informed “due to the risk of malicious access to personal information”.
The firm, which employs over 9,000 staff, acknowledged that its UK operations have been especially impacted by the attack and its subsequent response. Despite the challenges, CVS stated: “Through the efforts of our colleagues, we have continued to provide our usual high levels of clinical care to clients and patients at the majority of our practices,”.
“IT services to our practices and business functions have now been securely restored across the majority of the estate; however, due to the increased levels of security and monitoring, some systems are not working as efficiently as previously and this is likely to result in an ongoing operational impact.”
The London-listed company divulged that it’s speeding up plans to transfer its practice management system and relevant IT infrastructure to cloud-based solutions following the incident. This move, coupled with the heightened security response in light of the attack, “are likely to have an impact on operations for a number of weeks”.
