‘It was empty’: Co-op stores deal with cyberattack affecting supply

Shoppers who frequent Co-op stores in Saskatoon and the area may have to shop around to get what they need because of limited supply due to a cyberattack.

The Co-op has been directing the public and media to their social media accounts for information. It posted an initial notice a few days ago.

“Federated Co-operatives Limited is experiencing an unplanned IT service outage. Due to these system-wide issues, the outage may impact some of our systems and operations at some of our locations and online,” the post reads.

Shoppers CTV spoke to on Wednesday were seeing the deficiency.

“I was trying to get noodles the other day and there was none on the shelf at all, and when I went for sandwich spread, there was none. It was empty,” Patricia Neubauer told CTV News.

Lynn Remeshylo was seeing a similar situation. “Produce, I’d say, is at about half. Empty shelves for radishes and all that kind of stuff were empty,” she said.

The post on social media also says that card lock locations are down but gas bars are operating.

The website is currently offline but customers can access the app.

A tech expert says it’s important for companies to be in front of the information they’re giving to customers in a situation like this.

“Especially for organizations like the Co-op, they’re built in the community. They’re serving the community. They owe it to the community to communicate with trust and transparency.” Dominic Vogel, president of Vogel Cyber Leadership and Coaching told CTV News.

Patricia Neubauer heard about the issue before she visited the store but admits she doesn’t understand what it means.

“They said something about some cyberattack or something, but I said, you’re talking to a 77-year-old woman, I don’t friggen know what a cyberattack is.”

“Back to that example of the 77-year-old woman, they need to communicate to everyone. People have entrusted them for decades in some cases. They owe it to them to communicate with trust and transparency,” Vogel said.

According to Vogel, companies need to have heightened cyber security to ensure customers and the company stay cyber-safe.