At the beginning of this week, 7-Eleven in Denmark was forced to close 175 stores. As representatives of the trading network have now reported, this happened due to a ransomware attack.
So far, no hacker group has claimed responsibility for what happened, and 7-Eleven has not provided any additional information about the attack and the hackers who carried it out, citing an ongoing investigation involving law enforcement agencies. The company only confirmed that the attackers hacked into its network and encrypted data.
Bleeping Computer reports that the attack took place last Monday, and as a result, 7-Eleven stores in Denmark lost the ability to use their cash registers and accept payments. As a result, this incident led to the closure of all 7-Eleven stores in the country.
Currently, stores have already started to reopen, moving to local operating solutions, including accepting cash or using the MobilePay system. The list of 7-Eleven stores and kiosks that have reopened is maintained in a special Google Docs file.
While the company says it has no evidence that 7-Eleven’s customers, partners, or suppliers were affected by this attack, journalists believe the attackers may have stolen data. The fact is that in recent years, almost all extortionist groups have been practicing double extortion tactics: they not only encrypt the data of their victims, but also steal information from their networks before encrypting devices. The stolen data is later used as leverage to force the victim to pay the ransom. Otherwise, the hackers threaten to leak the stolen information to the public or sell it.