A "malicious attack" has been blamed for continuing IT problems at Red Funnel.
As Isle of Wight Radio first reported, issues have left customers unable to book online or on the phone since Monday (28).
Red Funnel says the motive of the IT "attack" does not appear to be data theft.
It has assured customers that it has not found any evidence to suggest data leaks have occurred.
A Red Funnel Spokesperson said:
“While we are still in the midst of resolving the situation, it appears as though several of our internal systems have been corrupted. Notably our booking and timetable management system have been affected, as have some other internal systems.
“In accordance with best practice, we immediately prioritised our investigation to check for any evidence of personal data leaks and can confirm that we have NOT found any evidence to suggest that any such leaks may have occurred. We also want to reassure customers that customer credit / debit card details are not held within our systems, so customers can remain assured that their card data is never at risk with us.
“Our teams are working hard to restore our systems and we anticipate resuming a basic version of our online booking system in the next 24 hours or less. We regret that we expect to be temporarily unable to accept Red Funnel rewards points or travel cards towards new bookings; however, we’re working to have this functionality back up and running as soon as possible.
“We will continue to keep customers informed as and when we have more information. In the meantime, we are advising anyone travelling without an existing booking to arrive well in advance of their sailing to ensure sufficient time to process payment and confirm the booking. Payment can be made at the terminal for one-way travel or return travel for the same day.
Those needing to arrange return travel for the next day or beyond should wait to book their return leg online or by telephone when our system is available.
“Since Monday, all passengers who have turned up to travel without a booking have been able to get on their desired sailing, so I’d like to assure our customers that we have not had any issues with supply relative to demand. Again, we advise everyone travelling with us to arrive a little earlier than usual wherever possible.
“We would like to thank our customers and staff for their patience during this time and, once again, we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
As well as online and telephone bookings, customer account enquiries, automatic NPR (number plate recognition) at check-in and live service status updates remain unavailable.
For the latest updates to travel, please check our Service Status at www.redfunnel.co.uk/service.
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