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MoneyGram Confirms Hackers Stole Customer Data

The September 2024 cyberattack affected both personal and transactional information, impacting customer ID numbers, financial data, and more.

Published

2 years ago

October 9, 2024

Nour Nasir

moneygram confirms hackers stole customer data

Finance platform MoneyGram has revealed that hackers accessed and stole customer data — including personal and transactional information — in a recent cyberattack. The company disclosed on Monday that an unauthorized party “accessed and acquired” this information during a cyber incident on September 20. The breach also caused a week-long outage, which took down the company’s website and mobile app.

MoneyGram, which is used by over 50 million customers across more than 200 countries annually, said the investigation into the breach was still in its early stages. Experts have yet to determine the full extent of the data hack, with MoneyGram spokesperson Sydney Schoolfield so far declining to comment beyond the company’s public statement.

According to MoneyGram, the stolen data includes various personal details, such as names, phone numbers, postal and email addresses, dates of birth, and national identification numbers. A “limited number” of Social Security numbers and government-issued identification documents, including driver’s licenses and other personal documents, were also exposed. The specific types of stolen data will vary depending on the individual customer.

Also Read: UAE Residents Rank Third For Password Forgetfulness

Additionally, the hackers obtained transaction information, including dates and amounts, along with criminal investigation data related to fraud for some customers.

Related Topics:Cybersecurity Hacking MoneyGram

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Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

Also Read: Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.