London Drugs says it will not pay a multimillion-dollar ransom to cybercriminals who claimed to have stolen data in a hack that shut down its stores for nearly a week.
A statement reads that the criminals could leak stolen corporate files containing employee information on the dark web.
London Drugs says they have notified its employees of the situation and has provided them with two years of credit monitoring and identity theft protection services.
The retailer was reacting to a picture that had been shared on the social media site X, which linked the London Drugs attack to the Lockbit ransomware organization.
With a deadline of Thursday, the image purportedly requested a $25 million ransom from London Drugs, stating that the retailer was only willing to pay $8 million.
London Drugs’ statement says it’s unable to “provide specifics on the nature or extent of employee personal information potentially impacted.”
“Through our ongoing investigation, we are now aware that London Drugs has been identified by cybercriminals on the Dark Web as a victim of exfiltration of files from its corporate head office, some of which may contain employee information,” the statement reads.
London Drugs closed all 79 stores in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba on April 28, when it became aware of the cyberattack. They did not all reopen until May 7.
