Empty shelves found at some Co-Op stores in Sask. following cybersecurity incident
The IT woes carry on for Federated Co-op Ltd., one of the most common stores in Western Canada, which has been the victim of a cybersecurity incident.
In a Facebook post Saturday, the company confirmed the incident has impacted some of its customer-facing systems which is now impacting its inventory of certain grocery items.
At Co-op in Watrous and Warman, Sask., on Sunday, shelves seem to be empty and aisles are running low on produce and dairy products.
Signage has been posted above shelves indicating that the "unforeseen IT disruption", the company is experiencing "temporary shortages in product supply".
Grocery items like bread, frozen goods, fruits, dairy items and fresh produce are in short supply at some Co-op locations.
Co-op first posted about the incident on Thursday, saying it was affecting its stores and cardlock fuel stations.
"We have no evidence at this time that consumer data was compromised. If the investigation determines that consumer data was compromised, we will take appropriate action," Co-op said in a Facebook post Saturday.
Co-op has several stores and gas stations in Canada, with the business mainly operating in the western provinces.
The cyberattack is impacting some of FCL's customer-facing systems, according to a Facebook post by the company. FCL said it had shut down some of its systems as a precautionary measure and brought in third-party experts to investigate. In another post late Friday afternoon, FCL said some of its cardlocks were open again.
Local Co-ops across Saskatchewan began posting about the "unplanned IT outage" on Wednesday and Thursday. FCL's main website and many local Co-op websites are currently not working.
Co-ops in some major regions of Western Canada like Saskatoon and Regina are among the locations that have posted about shutting down their cardlock fuel locations. FCL has not provided a timeframe for when these services will be restored.
"We regret that this outage has occurred and we thank Co-op members and customers for their patience as our teams work to resolve the issue," FCL said in its Facebook post.
