CYBERTERRORISM

Xpressbet posted on its website Aug. 24 a statement that said the online wagering site was the victim of a form of cyberterrorism Saturday, Aug. 22, the date of the $1 Million TVG Pacific Classic (gr. I) from Del Mar.

"You may have experienced issues when visiting Xpressbet on Saturday, August 22," Xpressbet said. "Shortly after 7:00PM ET, we were the victim of a sophisticated, malicious Distributed Denial of Service Attack (DDoS), which forced our website and telephone system to go offline for several hours.

Xpressbet said DDoS attacks are a form of cyberterrorism in which a website is flooded with thousands of unique visits, solely intended to force the website offline.

"Xpressbet, along with several other online wagering companies, have received several such attacks over the past few months, the majority of which were mitigated quickly and without interruption to your wagering experience," the statement said. "Please know that we are continuing to work with our technology partners to build additional safeguards into our system to prevent future attacks from impacting you and your ability to wager."

Xpressbet assured its customers that their personal information "remains our highest priority. We utilize advanced security and encryption software to ensure your information is safe, and while these attacks impacted our website, they did not impact your personal data.

"We apologize for the inconvenience this caused, and assure you we are working tirelessly to continue providing you an unparalleled wagering experience," the company said.