Vet firm with 500 practices says UK operations disrupted by cyber attack
The incident involved ‘unauthorised external access’ to a limited number of its IT systems
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A vet company has said it has suffered “considerable operational disruption” after a cyber incident over the past week.
Vet giant CVS Group, which runs around 500 veterinary practices globally, said it reacted to limit the impact of the attack but witnessed particular disruption to its UK operations.
The incident involved “unauthorised external access” to a limited number of its IT systems, CVS said.
In response, the company took its IT systems temporarily offline in order to stop wider unauthorised access.
It said this was successful in stopping the hackers gaining further access to its systems but had a “considerable” impact on operations.
Specialist third party consultants are investigating the incident and the group has also informed authorities such as the Information Commissioner’s Office “due to the risk of malicious access to personal information”.
The firm, which employs over 9,000 staff, said its UK operations have been particularly affected by the attack and its response.
“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,” CVS said.
“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 said it is accelerating plans to move its practice management system and relevant IT infrastructure to the Cloud as a result.
It said this and the security response to the attack “are likely to have an impact on operations for a number of weeks”.