MoneyGram confirms cyberattack behind days-long global outage

MoneyGram, one of the largest money transfer companies in the world, was knocked offline in late September 2024 by what it described as a cybersecurity issue. The company told customers on September 22 that a network outage was disrupting connectivity across several systems. The Record reported that the disruption had begun on Friday, September 20.

The outage affected both in-person agent transactions and MoneyGram's digital channels. Its website and mobile app became unreachable, and partner networks in several countries, including Mexico and parts of the Caribbean, were unable to process transfers. MoneyGram handles more than $200 billion in transactions a year across over 200 countries and territories, so the interruption fell heavily on customers sending remittances.

MoneyGram said it had identified the problem, proactively taken systems offline to contain it, brought in outside cybersecurity specialists and notified law enforcement. The company did not say what kind of intrusion had occurred or whether customer data had been accessed. On September 25 it told stakeholders it had no evidence that ransomware was involved, and named CrowdStrike among the outside experts working on the investigation. SecurityWeek noted that no ransomware group had claimed responsibility.

By September 26 the company said service had been restored, with partners able to send and receive money again and pending transactions being processed. As of that point MoneyGram had published no findings from its investigation and had made no statement about the security of customer information.