On Sunday, April 28, Canadian retail pharmacy chain London Drugs announced that it had closed all of its Western Canadian stores “until further notice.”
Soon after, the company revealed that it had experienced a cybersecurity incident and that the store closures were a cautionary measure.
“Upon discovering the incident, London Drugs immediately undertook countermeasures to protect its network and data, including retaining leading third-party cybersecurity experts to assist with containment, remediation and to conduct a forensic investigation,” the drugstore told Daily Hive over email.
It published the following message on its Facebook page.
London Drugs/Facebook
Until Tuesday morning, the chain had maintained that it had no reason to believe the incident impacted customer or employee data.
In a revised statement emailed to us on Tuesday morning, company officials said that an investigation is “currently assessing the extent to which any data has been compromised in the incident.”
“In the event [that] our investigation determines that personal information was impacted, we will notify affected individuals in accordance with privacy laws,” it shared.
London Drugs is now working with third-party cybersecurity experts to get operations back on track safely. It reiterated that the Western Canada stores will remain closed until further notice.
“Recognizing the impact these closures have had on our customers and employees across Western Canada, it remains our priority to continue working around the clock to have all stores fully operational,” said the company’s COO and president, Clint Mahlman. “We appreciate everyone’s patience and support during this very difficult time and will provide updates as available.”
London Drugs’ phone lines have also been taken down temporarily but will be restored soon.
Amidst all this, pharmacy workers are still on-site at all store locations to help customers with urgent pharmaceutical needs.
The chain continues to advise customers to visit local stores during business hours for immediate support until the phone lines are live again.
With files from Nikitha Martins