EquiLend, a global financial technology company based in New York, said its operations were disrupted after some systems were knocked offline in a cyberattack on Monday.
Following the incident, the technology, data and analytics company also detected unauthorized access to its network and is now working to restore all affected services.
“On January 22, 2024, EquiLend identified a technical issue that took portions of our systems offline,” an EquiLend spokesperson told BleepingComputer today.
“We immediately launched an investigation and identified a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to our systems. We took immediate steps to secure our systems and are working methodically to restore affected services as quickly as possible.”
EquiLend has also engaged third-party experts to investigate the security breach and to help expedite its remediation efforts.
“We are working with external cybersecurity firms and other professional advisors to assist us in our investigation and restoration of service. Customers have been advised that this may take several days,” the spokesperson added.
The company has not yet revealed whether any company or customer data was exposed or stolen in the incident.
LockBit ransomware representative LockBitSupp claimed responsibility for the EquiLend ransomware attack in a statement to Bloomberg on Wednesday.
However, EquiLend has yet to confirm this claim on a dedicated page sharing more information about the incident which was released a day later on January 25.
Recent Acquisition Announcement
The announcement of the deal comes less than a week after Equilend announced its acquisition by US private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS). The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2024, subject to regulatory approval.
“In addition to the acquisition, WCAS has committed an additional $200 million in investment to support EquiLend’s organic growth initiatives and acquisitions,” the company said. said.
Although there is information about the nature of the attack, The FBI has warned that ransomware gangs target companies involved in “urgent financial events,” including corporate mergers and acquisitions, as this makes it easier to extort money from their victims.
“Imminent events that could impact a victim’s stock price, such as announcements, mergers and acquisitions, encourage ransomware actors to target a network or adjust their extortion schedule once access is established,” the FBI said.
EquiLend was founded in 2001 by a consortium of ten global banks and brokers, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BlackRock, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, National Bank of Canada, Northern Trust, State Street and UBS.
The company has more than 330 employees in offices across North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific, and its services are now used by more than 190 companies worldwide, including lending banks, hedge funds and broker-dealers.
Securities finance market participants use Equilend’s Next Generation Trading (NGT) multi-asset securities lending trading platform to execute over $2.4 trillion in trades each month.