Thomas Cook shuts systems after cyber attack takes down IT infrastructure; probe underway | Company Business News-OxBig News Network

Global travel agency Thomas Cook’s Indian arm closed its affected systems after a cyber attack took down its IT infrastructure, according to an exchange filing on Tuesday, December 31.

“We wish to inform you that there has been an incident involving cyber attack on our IT infrastructure,” said the company in a BSE filing. 

The company also said that they have taken the necessary steps to investigate the hacking issue, and in response to this, Thomas Cook has closed its affected systems.

“Immediately upon becoming aware of the incident, we have taken the necessary steps to investigate and respond to the incident, including shutting down affected systems,” they said.

The company also informed the investors that they are working with cybersecurity experts to help with the investigation process and take the actions which are necessary for a cyber attack incident like this. 

“We are working with leading cyber security experts to support our investigation and identify the extent of the issue and take remedial action as necessary,” said Thomas Cook in the filing.

Thomas Cook India Ltd shares closed 0.53 per cent lower at ₹195.55 after Tuesday’s market session, compared to ₹196.60 at the previous market close. The travel agency filed the information about the cyber attack at the end of the market operational hours on December 31.

According to Mint’s earlier report, the travel agency’s net profit for the July to September quarter gained 37.77 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) at ₹64.89 crore. The company’s revenue from operations marked an 8.7 per cent rise to ₹2003.76 crore. 

The company’s India operations are based out of Mumbai. While accessing the company’s website after the development, Mint found that the homepage was flagging an Error 503, and the Google search results were also showing an error page instead of the travel agency’s website on December 31. 

What is an Error 503? 

According to Microsoft‘s official support blog, Error 503 occurs when the website is in a stopped state from the owner’s side. 

“The ‘503 Service Unavailable’ message typically appears when the application pool is in a stopped state,” said Pradeep Sharma in the support blog post.