London Drugs begins to gradually reopen stores after cyberattack
London Drugs is gradually reopening its stores across Western Canada, six days after it shuttered all locations due to a “cybersecurity incident,” the retail and pharmacy chain said.
It is working with its nearly 80 stores in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba individually to get them up and running, said the retailer, headquartered in Richmond, a suburban city about 16 kilometres south of Vancouver.
“We ask for patience as we work with each store to ensure it is operating fully to meet the needs of our customers, and therefore we will not be communicating which stores are opening and when,” London Drugs said in a Saturday statement. “No interviews will be conducted at this time.”
“We are continuing to work with our third-party cybersecurity experts to bring our systems online in a safe and secure manner,” the company said.
Pharmacists are available at all stores for emergency prescription and urgent care needs, and Canada Post offices located within stores are also open, according to London Drugs.
Customers in need of pharmacy help are asked to visit stores in person for assistance. The Insurance Services Call Centre is also open to assist clients.
“We are grateful for the patience and support of our customers and suppliers as we work to bring all services and systems at our stores back to full operation following this cybersecurity incident,” president and chief operating officer Clint Mahlman said in the statement.
After five days of near total shut-down, Canada Post outlets at London Drugs stores were able to re-open today. Meanwhile, the store’s pharmacies remain closed, though urgent prescriptions are still being filled.
The company closed all of its stores across Western Canada until further notice after the incident was discovered on April 28. The retailers’ phone system was also down earlier in the week.
London Drugs is rebuilding its data infrastructure with the help of third-party experts to bring its operations safely back online, according to the statement.
There are billions of lines of data and code to review, the retailer said, adding its teams have been working around the clock and are making progress.
“Any systems we are using have been thoroughly tested for safety and verified by third-party cybersecurity experts. We are only turning on systems we have full confidence are safe and secure.”
The company said its investigation so far shows no evidence that customer databases have been compromised, including for pharmacy patients and its LDExtra members.
It said the impact of the breach on operations has been significant, and the restoration process is rigorous.
