OLDS - Westview Co-op and Central Alberta Co-op’s websites came back online Wednesday, weeks after their main supplier of goods and IT services suffered a cybersecurity incident.
“We are pleased to announce that our corporate website, fcl.crs, and all local Co-op websites, are back online. We encourage Co-op customers to visit their local website and once again, we thank Co-op members, customers and the public for their patience and understanding,” Federated Co-operatives Limited posted on social media on July 17.
On June 27, Federated Co-operatives Limited confirmed it was experiencing a cybersecurity incident that impacted some internal and customer-facing systems at local retail co-ops and cardlock fuel locations.
The wholesaler is Westview Co-op and Central Alberta Co-op’s main goods supplier and also the provider of their IT services.
When the incident was discovered, Federated Co-operatives Limited temporarily took a number of systems offline as a precaution.
At the time, systems like online ordering through shop.crs, websites, product orders and cardlock pumps were affected.
All 398 co-op cardlock locations across Western Canada were back online July 4. Westview Co-op's Linden cardlock was not affected.
While the websites are up and running again, online shopping was not as of the afternoon of July 17.
In the days after the cybersecurity incident was confirmed publicly, Federated Co-operatives Limited said it had no evidence that consumer data was compromised.
“If the investigation determines that consumer data was compromised, we will take appropriate action,” the wholesaler’s June 29 update said.
Federated Co-operatives Limited said on July 9 that it was aware of statements made online that data was allegedly copied from its IT environment and would allegedly be released.
“While it's possible these allegations are related to the cybersecurity incident we previously experienced, we are still investigating with assistance from third-party experts. If the investigation determines that data was in fact compromised, as previously stated, we will take appropriate action,” the wholesaler’s July 9 update said.
