After cyber attack: Coop closes branches in Sweden at short notice

A large-scale hacker attack on hundreds of company networks in the USA is spreading as far as Europe. In Sweden, the tills of all Coop branches that are controlled with the attacked software were blocked.

The Swedish supermarket chain Coop, one of the largest grocery stores in the country, has closed all 800 branches after a cyber attack. The attack blocked the cash register systems, said a company spokeswoman. The state railways and a pharmacy chain also reported disruptions.

Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist spoke of a very dangerous attack. “In another geopolitical situation, state actors could attack us in this way to cripple society and wreak havoc,” the minister said on television.

Attack on American software

According to the TT news agency, the target of the attack in Sweden was the VSA software from the US provider Kaseya, which is used in many companies. After the attack, he asked his customers to shut down their so-called VSA server immediately “until you receive further information from us”. With the VSA server, companies can control all of their computers and printers from a single workstation.

According to the US security service provider Huntress, eight IT service providers and around 200 corporate customers were affected in the USA. “This is a huge and devastating attack on supply chains,” said Huntress manager John Hammond.

Trail could lead to Russia

The company suspects the group “REvil”, whose traces should lead to Russia, to be behind the attack. The FBI is already blaming “REvil” for an attack on the world’s largest meat company, JBS, in which hackers extorted eleven million dollars.

In the USA, the state and business are fighting a wave of attacks with blackmail software (ransomware). The data of the attacked systems are encrypted. The hackers demand payments in cryptocurrency for re-release.

Hackers also extorted millions of dollars from the US oil pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline. An attack on the US software manufacturer SolarWinds, which affected thousands of users, also caused a stir.