Swedish Supermarket Closed by Kaseya Cyberattack

Most of one of Sweden’s leading supermarket chains’ 800 shops remained closed on Monday, three days after they were indirectly affected by the cyberattack targeting US company Kaseya.

Stressing that the situation was looking “positive compared to a few days ago”, Kevin Bell, press spokesman for Coop, told AFP that “a majority” of their stores were still closed.

On Friday, a hacking attack indirectly hit the supermarket chain, paralysing all its cash registers and forcing the company to temporarily close nearly all its shops across the country.

Bell said they had been able to reopen a few hundred stores by relying on alternative payment solutions — such as customers paying using their smartphones — and stores also allowed customers to shop online.

Subcontractor Visma Esscom, where the problem originated, said it was linked to a major cyber attack on Friday on the US company Kaseya.

Coop, which accounts for about 20 percent of the supermarket industry in the Nordic country with an annual turnover of almost 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion), filed a complaint with police on Sunday.

Some pharmacies and train operator SJ also reported payment problems.

Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist said over the weekend that he was concerned that the attack demonstrated the vulnerability of modern society where a cyberattack could impact “food security and other basic securities.”

A wave of ransomware attacks has struck worldwide recently, especially in the United States.

Ransomware attacks typically involve locking away data in systems using encryption, making companies pay to regain access.

Last year, hackers extorted at least $18 billion using such software, according to security firm Emsisoft.

In recent weeks, such attacks have hit oil pipelines, health services and major firms, and made it onto the agenda of US President Joe Biden’s June meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

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