As we operate our business, we obtain, process and, in some cases, store sensitive business and personal information, including, but not limited to, information related to our customers, their end-users and their transactions. We also have access to certain transactional and personal data of our customers and their consumers due to the proprietary or third-party products, solutions and service offerings we provide. Additionally, we collect, process and store certain personal data of our employees and independent contractors or third-party consultants in the ordinary course of business. We face a variety of risks, including to our reputation, relating to the handling, securing and protection of such information, and these risks will increase as our business grows.
While we have programs and measures in place that are designed to protect and safeguard our data and the third-party data we collect, store and process, and while we have implemented access controls designed to limit the risk of unauthorized use or disclosure by employees and contractors, the techniques used to prevent access or obtain unauthorized access to data are complex and evolving as threat actors adopt new and emerging technologies. For example, threat actors are increasingly using artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop and deploy techniques that enhance their likelihood of success at penetrating or bypassing security measures, compromising and disrupting systems and exploiting vulnerabilities. These threat actors are increasingly sophisticated, and they have increasingly targeted employees, contractors, service providers and third parties through evolving techniques, including through social engineering and/or misrepresentation (such as phishing attempts and similar techniques). An attack, disruption, intrusion, denial of service, theft, misuse or other breach, or an inadvertent act by an employee or contractor, could result in unauthorized access to, disclosure of, or prevent or access to, our data or third-party data we collect, store or process, resulting in claims, costs and reputational harm that could negatively affect our operating results or stock price.
Like most companies, we are regularly subject to attempts by third parties (which may include individuals or groups of hackers and sophisticated organizations, such as state-sponsored organizations, nation-states and individuals sponsored by them) to identify and exploit system vulnerabilities or to penetrate or bypass our security measures to gain unauthorized access to our networks and systems. We anticipate that we will continue to be increasingly subject to such attempts given the nature of our business and as cyberattacks become more sophisticated and difficult to predict and protect against. Successful attempts by one of these malicious actors could lead to the compromise of personal information or the confidential data of us or our customers. Attempts of this nature typically involve technology-related viruses, worms and other malicious software programs that attack networks, systems, products and services, exploit potential security vulnerabilities, create system disruptions and cause shutdowns or denials of service. Our products and services may also be accessed or modified improperly as a result of customer, partner, employee, contractor or supplier error or malfeasance.
We have administrative, technical, organizational and physical security measures in place to defend against intrusions and attacks and to protect our information. However, we have experienced security incidents in the past, and we may face additional security incidents in the future.
In April 2023, we determined that a single data center outage impacting certain of our customers was caused by a cyber ransomware incident. Following an extensive investigation which included Company experts, external forensic cybersecurity experts and federal law enforcement, among others, we concluded that the incident impacted operations for some customers only with respect to specific Aloha cloud-based services and Counterpoint. Functionality was fully restored to all impacted customers, and we built a new cloud environment to host the affected applications. We have incurred certain expenses related to this cyber ransomware incident and may incur additional costs in the future, including payment of damages or other costs to customers or others.
Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to, or sabotage technology systems, change frequently, grow more complex over time and generally are not recognized until a cyberattack is launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate or implement the measures needed to prevent such techniques. In addition, a cyberattack, vulnerability exploitation or other security incident could remain undetected and persist in our environments or those of our customers, partners and other third parties for an extended period of time. Future security incidents may not be prevented or remediated, and the cost associated with responding to any such incident may be significant.
If any security or data breach or significant denial-of-service attack or other cyberattack involving our systems, our customers' data or the systems of third parties that store or process our data or that of our customers occurs or is believed to have occurred, our reputation and brand could be significantly damaged, and we could be required to expend significant capital and other resources to address problems caused by any such actual or perceived event and to remediate our systems. In addition, we could be exposed to business losses, litigation, regulatory action or other liabilities and our ability to operate our business may be impaired. While we maintain cybersecurity insurance, there can be no assurance that our insurance will cover any or all of losses we incur in connection with any cybersecurity incident.