For
immediate
release
8 April
2024
CVS Group
plc
("CVS" or the
"Company" and, together with its subsidiaries, the
"Group")
Notice of Cyber
Incident
CVS Group announces it has recently
detected and intercepted a cyber incident which had involved
unauthorised external access to a limited number of its IT
systems.
Upon discovery of the incident, CVS
took immediate steps to isolate the issue and, to prevent wider
unauthorised access, took its IT systems temporarily offline, as
part of the Group's response plan. Our responses to contain the
threat of malicious activity have caused considerable operational
disruption over the past week, but to date have been effective in
preventing further external access to CVS systems. Specialist
third party consultants have been engaged to investigate the nature
and extent of the incident and to support the response across the
Group. CVS has also proactively informed the relevant authorities,
including the Information Commissioner's Office, due to the risk of
malicious access to personal information.
Whilst the prompt actions taken by
the Group have limited the cyber incident, they have resulted in
disruption to UK operations. 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. 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. Operations outside the UK
remain operationally unaffected as do non-CVS hosted systems and
the Group's e-commerce systems.
As a result of this incident, the
Group is accelerating its plans to migrate its practice management
system and related IT infrastructure to the Cloud to both provide
enhanced security across our estate and to deliver operational
efficiencies. Whilst we will continue to focus on providing high
levels of clinical care to clients and patients, the security steps
taken and the planned migration of our operational systems are
likely to have an impact on operations for a number of
weeks.
The forensic analysis is ongoing and
we will continue to take all necessary steps to protect our
business. The Group will provide a further update in due
course.
We would like to thank all our
colleagues for their support and professionalism in maintaining our
veterinary services throughout this incident.
CVS
Group
plc
via
Camarco
Richard Fairman, CEO
Ben Jacklin, Deputy CEO
Robin Alfonso, CFO
Peel Hunt LLP (Nominated Adviser &
Broker)
+44 (0)20 7418
8900
Christopher Golden / James Steel /
Andrew Clark / Lalit Bose
Berenberg (Joint Broker)
+44 (0)20 3207
7800
Toby Flaux / Ben Wright / James
Thompson / Milo Bonser
Camarco (Financial
PR)
Ginny Pulbrook
+44 (0)7961 315 138
Geoffrey Pelham-Lane
+44 (0)7733 124 226
About CVS Group plc
(www.cvsukltd.co.uk)
CVS Group is an AIM-listed
provider of veterinary services with operations in the UK,
Australia, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland. CVS
is focused on providing high-quality clinical services to its
clients and their animals, with outstanding and dedicated clinical
teams and support colleagues at the core of its
strategy.
The Group operates c.500 veterinary
practices across its four territories, including specialist
referral hospitals and dedicated out-of-hours sites. Alongside the
core Veterinary Practices division, CVS operates Laboratories
(providing diagnostic services to CVS and third-parties),
Crematoria (providing pet cremation and clinical waste disposal for
CVS and third-party practices) and the Group's online retail
business ("Animed Direct").
The Group employs c.9,100 personnel,
including c.2,400 veterinary surgeons and c.3,400
nurses.