29th Oct 2015 07:00
For immediate release
Optimal Payments Plc
Customers' Personal Data Breaches
LONDON and MONTREAL (29 October 2015) - Optimal Payments Plc (AIM: OPAY, "Optimal Payments" or the "Company") announces that, as a result of media enquiries, it has been made aware that a small amount of customers' personal data is in the public domain and it has been alleged that such data forms part of a more material amount of customers' personal data also in the public domain.
The allegation made to the Company is that there were data breaches in 2011 or before in respect of the NETELLER business (a subsidiary of the Company) and in 2012 or before in respect of the business of Moneybookers Limited (the entity which is now Skrill Limited, which was acquired by the Company on 10 August 2015 as part of the acquisition of Sentinel Topco Limited) and that the data which is alleged to be available in the public domain emanated from those breaches. The allegations do not specify the exact date on which the data breaches were alleged to occur.
The Company previously suffered two data breaches as a result of cyber-attacks in 2009 and 2010 (the "Historical Data Breaches"). The Historical Data Breaches were at Moneybookers Limited and NETELLER. The Historical Data Breaches were reported to the businesses' regulator, the FSA (now the FCA), at the time and were the subject of independent forensic investigations from major accounting firms.
The report from the forensic investigator on the NETELLER data breach contained no evidence to suggest that the breach was material. In addition, to the best of the Company's knowledge, no NETELLER customers suffered any financial losses as a result of the breach. The report from the forensic investigator on the Moneybookers data breach was unable to conclude on whether the breach was material but to the best of the Company's knowledge, no Moneybookers' customers suffered any financial losses as a result of the breach. Legal advice as to the ramifications of the Historical Data Breaches was taken at the time and a number of improvements were made to the respective information security platforms. The NETELLER customer data and the Moneybookers customer data that the Company has been made aware is in the public domain appears to relate to individuals who registered as customers prior to 2010.
In light of the information above, the Company has commenced an investigation into this matter and the veracity of the allegations, and has informed both the Information Commissioner and the FCA.
Optimal Payments places the highest possible priority on maintaining its customers' data integrity and safety, and the Company will make a further announcement in due course to update the market on the findings of its investigation.
For further information contact:
Optimal Payments Plc
Jessica Stalley, Head of Investor Relations
Canaccord Genuity Limited (Nominated Adviser & Broker)
Simon Bridges / Cameron Duncan / Mark Whitmore
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7523 8000
Tavistock (Financial PR)
Simon Hudson/Andrew Dunn/Simon Fluendy
+44 20 7920 3150
About Optimal Payments Plc
Optimal Payments is a global provider of online payment solutions, trusted by businesses and consumers in over 200 countries and territories to move and manage billions of dollars each year. Merchants use the NETBANX® platform and services to simplify how they accept credit and debit card, direct-from-bank, and alternative and local payments; and the NETELLER® service to increase revenues and capture new customers. Consumers use the multilingual and multicurrency NETELLER and Net+® Card stored-value offering to make secure and convenient payments. Optimal Payments completed the acquisition of Skrill Group in August 2015, a leading digital payments business providing digital wallet solutions and online payment processing capabilities in addition to pre-paid online vouchers and invoice and instalment payment services through its Skrill, paysafecard and payolution brands. Optimal Payments Plc is quoted on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market, with a ticker symbol of OPAY. Subsidiary company Optimal Payments Ltd is authorised and regulated as an e-money issuer by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 900015).
For more information on Optimal Payments visit www.optimalpayments.com or subscribe at http://www.optimalpayments.com/media/email-alerts or Twitter.
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Related Shares:
Paysafe Group