A week after experiencing a cybersecurity breach, Canadian book retailer Indigo is yet to get its website back up and running. The security incident began on Feb. 8, and it prevented Indigo from accepting gift, debit, and credit cards, as well as exchanges and returns.
A few hours after the cyber attack, Indigo released a statement on its website informing its customers of what was going on in the company.
“Indigo recently experienced a cybersecurity incident that affected our systems,” the statement reads. “We’re working hard with third-party experts to investigate and resolve this situation. We are grateful for your support and wanted to keep you updated on the current situation.”
Indigo’s statement also addressed the concerns regarding stolen customer data.
“Customer credit and debit card information was not compromised by our recent cybersecurity incident. We do not store full credit or debit card numbers in our systems,” reads the message.
Untill now, Indigo’s site remains offline, preventing the company from processing online sales.
While Indigo hasn’t revealed the type of cyber attack it’s experiencing, cybersecurity agencies say the incident is similar to a ransomware attack (an attack where hackers damage a company’s internal system and demand a ransom in exchange for a fix). Empire Co. Ltd. is another Canadian retailer that was recently a victim of such an attack. The attack shut down the conglomerate’s pharmacy services and other in-store functions like the redemption of loyalty points, gift-card use, and self-checkout machines.
The incident Indigo is experiencing is going to have a great impact on the company’s sales and reputation. Fortunately, the retailer is doing its best to resolve this issue and will relaunch their website once they’re confident they can provide “seamless online experience” to their customers once again.
“Our hope is to have our systems back online as soon as possible,” Indigo said. “In the interim, our website will remain unavailable. At this time, we look forward to welcoming our customers in our stores for cash transactions. We appreciate your patience as we work hard to resolve this issue.”