On April 13, 2023, NCR (NYSE: NCR) determined that a single data center outage that is impacting some functionality “for a subset of its commerce customers was caused by a cyber ransomware incident.”
Upon such determination, NCR immediately “started contacting customers, enacted its cybersecurity protocol and engaged outside experts to contain the incident and begin the recovery process.”
The investigation into the incident “includes NCR experts, external forensic cybersecurity experts and federal law enforcement.”
As noted in the update, the firm believes this incident is “limited to specific functionality in Aloha cloud-based services and Counterpoint.” At this time, their ongoing investigation also indicates “that no customer systems or networks are involved.” None of their ATM, digital banking, payments, or other retail products “are processed at this data center.”
While in-restaurant purchases and transactions continue to operate, affected customers “have reduced capabilities on specific Aloha cloud-based and Counterpoint functionality that has impacted their ability to manage restaurant administrative functions.”
NCR is “conducting concurrent efforts to establish alternative functionality for customers, fully restore impacted data and applications, and to enhance its cyber security protections.”
As mentioned in the announcement, NCR Corporation claims it is “a leader in transforming, connecting and running technology platforms for self-directed banking, stores and restaurants.”
NCR is “headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with 35,000 employees globally.”
As covered last year, NCR Corporation announced its Board of Directors has unanimously “approved a plan to separate NCR into two independent, publicly traded companies – one focused on digital commerce, the other on ATMs.”
The separation is “intended to be structured in a tax-free manner and is targeted for the end of 2023.”
Frank R. Martire, executive chairman, NCR Board of Directors, said:
“It has become clear that NCR has the opportunity to unlock value for our shareholders by separating our digital commerce business and our ATM business. We have made significant strides over the past four years in creating a leading software-as-a-service business while continuing to strengthen and grow the ATM business. By creating two best-in-class independent companies, we should be able to accelerate the pace of transformation by enabling each to execute its own growth strategies and better capture the value-creation opportunities ahead.”