Cognizant looks set to lose around $50 to $70 million as a direct result of a recent ransomware attack, the IT services provider revealed in its Q1 earnings call.
Last month, the firm said it had been targeted by a "Maze" ransomware attack on 18 April, which effectively shut down its internal systems and causing service disruption for many of its customers.
As reported by ZDNet, Cognizant said it responded to the attack quickly but still expects its second quarterly earnings to take a notable hit due to the resulting downtime and the temporary suspension of customer accounts.
"While we anticipate that the revenue impact related to this issue will be largely resolved by the middle of the quarter, we do anticipate the revenue and corresponding margin impact to be in the range of $50 million to $70 million for the quarter," said Cognizant CFO Karen McLoughlin in the earnings call.
Maze software is typically used by hackers to steal a business' data and store it on an external server, allowing them to demand payment for its safe recovery with a threat of releasing the information if it is not received.
Cognizant said the hackers targeted select system-supporting employees as they were working from home, as well as the provisioning of laptops being used to support work-from-home capabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The provider's CEO Brian Humphries explained that the ransomware attack only affected its internal network and customer systems were not impacted.
"First, the attack encrypted some of our internal systems, effectively defaming them and we proactively took other systems offline," Humphries said.
RELATED RESOURCE
Remote office networks pose a business and reliability risk
A survey of IT professionals shows that nearly every company suffers direct business impact from network service interruptions
"Some clients opted to suspend our access to their networks. Billing was therefore impacted for a period of time, yet the cost of staffing these projects remained on our books."
Cognizant said it reacted swiftly to the attack, mobilising its entire leadership team, deploying the expertise of its security teams, as well as contacting leading cyber security experts.
"Nobody wants to be dealt with a ransomware attack," Humphries added. "I personally don't believe anybody is truly impervious to it, but the difference is how you manage it. And we tried to manage it professionally and maturely."
-
AI is helping bad bots take over the internetNews Automated bot traffic has surpassed human activity for the first time in a decade, according to Imperva
-
Two years on from its Series B round, Hack the Box is targeting further growthNews Hack the Box has grown significantly in the last two years, and it shows no signs of slowing down
-
‘Phishing kits are a force multiplier': Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25 – and experts warn it’s lowering the barrier of entry for amateur hackersNews Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
-
Healthcare systems are rife with exploits — and ransomware gangs have noticedNews Nearly nine-in-ten healthcare organizations have medical devices that are vulnerable to exploits, and ransomware groups are taking notice.
-
Alleged LockBit developer extradited to the USNews A Russian-Israeli man has been extradited to the US amid accusations of being a key LockBit ransomware developer.
-
February was the worst month on record for ransomware attacks – and one threat group had a field dayNews February 2025 was the worst month on record for the number of ransomware attacks, according to new research from Bitdefender.
-
CISA issues warning over Medusa ransomware after 300 victims from critical sectors impactedNews The Medusa ransomware as a Service operation compromised twice as many organizations at the start of 2025 compared to 2024
-
Warning issued over prolific 'Ghost' ransomware groupNews The Ghost ransomware group is known to act fast and exploit vulnerabilities in public-facing appliances
-
The Zservers takedown is another big win for law enforcementNews LockBit has been dealt another blow by law enforcement after Dutch police took 127 of its servers offline
-
There’s a new ransomware player on the scene: the ‘BlackLock’ group has become one of the most prolific operators in the cyber crime industry – and researchers warn it’s only going to get worse for potential victimsNews Security experts have warned the BlackLock group could become the most active ransomware operator in 2025
