REG - CVS Group plc - Notice of Cyber Incident

CVSAnnouncement

08/04/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 5898J  CVS Group plc  08 April 2024

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 (http://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.

 

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