Residents on South Hill will have to purchase groceries from elsewhere for a couple of days after “evil people” hacked the South Hill Fine Foods and corrupted every digital system.
“It pretty much crippled us,” said general manager Perry Chambers. “They got into all my files. Everything that it takes to run this store, they got into and they’re holding it ransom. If we want it back, we have to pay.”
On advice from the Moose Jaw Police Service, the grocery store did not respond to the ransom demand. Instead, Chambers had to purchase all new equipment. This includes new cash tills and office computers. Those computers will have to be re-programmed, while every item in the store with a barcode will have to be re-entered since none of them register when scanned.
“It’s a big mess,” he continued. “All my charge accounts, everything that makes this place run, doesn’t run. We’re getting another file from another store … (but) we have to go through the whole store and price verify every item.”
Chambers estimated that the store has more than 24,000 items. He also estimated that the cost to replace all the systems and get the store running could be $75,000.
Staff Sgt. Randy Jesse, media relations with the Moose Jaw Police Service, explained anyone can be a victim of ransomware. This is where hackers will encrypt the information on the computer and force the victim to pay money to have the computer unlocked.
Jesse recommended that residents stay off suspicious-looking websites or webpages and don’t open unfamiliar links. If affected, victims could take their computer to a shop to see if it can be unlocked.
“I don’t encourage anyone paying these (hackers),” he added. “It only encourages them to continue in these practices.”
South Hill Fine Food customers were notified of the grocery store’s temporary closure online and by posters attached to the front doors. The posters read, “Due to our computers being corrupted by evil people, we are unable to sell any product and run the store. We are hoping to re-open on Thursday, Jan. 30.”
After speaking with Chambers, he indicated the store would likely re-open either Friday, Jan. 31 or Saturday, Feb. 1.
Chambers learned about the cyberattack on Jan. 26, when the assistant store manager arrived in the morning. His computer has files on the desktop, but they all appeared white, an indication that the system had been frozen. This meant besides the technology, the store had no access to employee schedules, pricing, or email.
Police told Chambers they believe an employee might have accidentally opened a phishing scam email, which allowed the hackers to hijack the system. He pointed out the store receives dozens of emails regularly from vendors, so it’s impossible to say which — if any — were infected.
There’s no way to find out what email was infected, however, since the computer is inaccessible.
“I’m really stressed out because I have to fix the things,” Chambers said. “It’s something we certainly don’t need. It’s a major hit to us. We’ll live and learn, but holy cow. It’s like starting up a new store … .
“Why South Hill Fine Foods, for God’s sake? Can’t they pick on somebody bigger?”
The only thing the store can do is get everything back online, “take the hit” and reopen the doors, Chamber said. He and management feel bad about what happened since they have a large customer base whom they can’t serve. It’s also a blow to morale since all the files the store created during the past 30 years are now gone.
All the produce and food affected by the cyberattack will be donated to the food bank, Riverside Mission, or other social agencies that might require these items.
“Be careful out there,” Chambers warned other businesses, since anyone can hack into any system. Business owners never think it could happen to them, but it can.
He suggested using as much security software as possible to protect yourself.
