The president of London Drugs doesn含羞草研究社檛 know why the company was targeted in a cyber attack that forced it to close its stores for more than week, but Clint Mahlman says hackers with sophisticated methods are 含羞草研究社渃onstantly probing for weaknesses含羞草研究社� of online systems.

Mahlman said in an interview that the Richmond, B.C.-based pharmacy and retailer had been preparing for such a situation for years, and they shut down immediately after the cybersecurity breach was discovered April 28 in order to contain the threat.

Since then, Mahlman said London Drugs has been working with cybersecurity experts to 含羞草研究社渕ethodically go through every system含羞草研究社� and bring them back online in a secure way.

含羞草研究社淲e won含羞草研究社檛 reopen a system until we have the confidence that it is as good as we can possibly make it,含羞草研究社� he said.

He said the company has no evidence to suggest that customer data was compromised.

Mahlman said he has no knowledge if the breach might be connected to B.C. Premier David Eby含羞草研究社檚 announcement late Wednesday that the province had detected 含羞草研究社渟ophisticated cybersecurity incidents含羞草研究社� involving government networks.

Mahlman wouldn含羞草研究社檛 share 含羞草研究社渄etails of any interactions with the threat actors.含羞草研究社�

He said he含羞草研究社檚 sorry that the company couldn含羞草研究社檛 release more details in the days after the incident, but they didn含羞草研究社檛 want to give the attackers any leverage.

含羞草研究社淭he cybersecurity experts deal with these people all the time, and as such, they see certain behaviours from certain threat actors,含羞草研究社� he said.

Mahlman said hackers look at media reports about the cyber attacks, assessing whether the company is aware of the extent of the breach and its ability to recover.

含羞草研究社淭hey use that information to either sustain their attack or leverage in some sort of way against the company.含羞草研究社�

London Drugs will not knowingly give hackers that leverage, Mahlman said.

含羞草研究社淲e apologize to the media and our customers that we couldn含羞草研究社檛 have given more details that they want, but that含羞草研究社檚 our commitment to the safety and security of our systems and our customers.含羞草研究社�

London Drugs said on Tuesday that all 79 of its stores in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba had reopened, and Mahlman said it was a 含羞草研究社渧ery big step含羞草研究社� to shut down its systems companywide to 含羞草研究社渃ontain and mitigate any potential damage.含羞草研究社�

含羞草研究社淭he level of sophistication and expertise of these international cyber threat actors is significant,含羞草研究社� Mahlman said.

In the B.C. government incident, Eby said provincial authorities were working with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and other agencies to determine the extent of the problem, but there was currently no evidence that sensitive information had been compromised.

Mahlman said the investigation was ongoing with the help of cybersecurity experts from across the continent, and more work needed to be done to determine what information could have been accessed.

含羞草研究社淲e含羞草研究社檝e never had to shut down all our stores before,含羞草研究社� Mahlman said. 含羞草研究社淚 think the public may be shocked to know, and this is far from unique to London Drugs.含羞草研究社�

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