After the cyber attack: Coop closes its branches in Sweden in a short time

A large-scale hacker attack on hundreds of corporate networks in the United States has spread to Europe. In Sweden, the accounts of all Coop affiliates that are controlled by the attacker have been blocked.

Swedish supermarket chain Coop, one of the country’s largest grocery stores, has closed all of its 800 branches after a cyber attack. A company spokeswoman said the attack shut down cash register systems. State railways and a pharmacy chain have also reported disruptions.

Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist spoke of a very serious attack. “In another geopolitical situation, state representatives can attack us in this way to paralyze society and create chaos,” the minister said on television.

attack on american software

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

According to US security service provider Huntress, eight IT service providers and nearly 200 corporate customers in the US have been affected. “This is a massive and devastating attack on supply chains,” said Huntress Director John Hammond.

Trail can lead to Russia

The company suspects that the group “Revell”, whose effects should lead to Russia, is responsible for the attack. The FBI has already blamed “REvil” for an attack on the world’s largest meat company, JBS, in which hackers extorted $11 million.

In the United States, the state and companies are fighting a wave of attacks with extortion software (ransomware). The data of the systems that have been attacked is encrypted. For re-release, hackers demand payments in cryptocurrency.

The 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 an uproar.