About a month ago, a criminal organization that is probably based in Russia subjected the American meat producer JBS to a cyber attack.
On Friday - three days before US National Day, the software company Kaseya was hacked.
Probably from the same group.
Around the same time, Coop's cash register system stopped working and now several IT security experts such as SVT Nyheter interviewed the IT attack on Kaseya with the crash that forced Coop to close its stores throughout Sweden.
- This is most likely what has happened and there are very many companies around the world that have been affected by this, says Mikael Westerlund, technical manager at the data provider Globalconnect.
The company Visma EssCom is one of the suppliers of Coop's cash register system.
To Aftonbladet, the company's CEO says that the problems that Coop is experiencing are due to a global cyber attack
- When this was discovered last night, the first thing we did was to shut down all Kaseya services.
What is going on now is to find a solution.
Either by restoring or reinstalling clients.
All resources are up and running to get this going again, says Visma EssCom's CEO Fabian Mogren to Aftonbladet.
"Is about economic crime"
This type of attack, known as ransomware, can be described as the blackmail of modern times.
- They demand a ransom so it is obvious that it is for financial gain.
This is about financial crime, says Mikael Westerlund.
It is not clear if it is actually the attack on Kaseya that affected Coop, but according to Mikael Westerlund, Kaseya is a well-distributed software worldwide.
There is probably also a large number of companies that are at risk of being affected.
Ransomware is not a new phenomenon, but it has become increasingly common.
In recent years, Bauhaus, Synsam and Mekonomen, among others, have been affected.
- It has completely exploded in the last three years and it is clear that it has become a business.
And it will not only be a financial loss but it will also damage the company's brand.
It's serious now.
The attack is unique in its kind
IT security expert David Jacoby believes that the outsourcing of many IT services makes society increasingly vulnerable.
- Now it turns out that Coop can not charge its customers, but it could just as easily be more serious services, such as payment services at pharmacies or gas stations, he says and continues:
- If a supplier is affected by an IT attack, it affects all their customers and the more suppliers a company has, the more security points must be secured.
Sweden's companies must change their security work because, as we work now, much of the control lies with the various suppliers.
The attack that knocked out Coop is unique in its kind, according to David Jacoby.
- As far as I know, this case is the first where you close down an entire store chain physically.
I think we will see more attacks like these in the future that actually affect us physically.
I am absolutely convinced of that.