MediaMarkt victim of international cyber attack

MediaMarkt and its stores have been hit by a large-scale cyber-attack. The electronics retailer’s international computer systems are said to have been ‘held hostage’ by a ransomware attack.

Everything encrypted

MediaMarkt employees were told this morning not to use the computers in the stores, which at least applies to the Dutch, Belgian and German stores. The staff was asked to disconnect the cash registers from the Internet and not to restart the systems, RTL Nieuws reports.

Apparently, the computer systems have been taken hostage by hackers in a ransomware attack. Everything is said to be encrypted. The retailer does not yet want to say whether any customer data has been leaked. “We are investigating everything at the moment,” spokeswoman Janick De Saedeleer said. “I can only confirm that this is an international attack.”

According to De Saedeleer, the stores will remain open and online sales will also continue. However, the stores can only scan and pay for physical products from the shelves, as the connection to the Internet has been severed. This also means that it is not possible to collect or return packages ordered online. Sending products from the stores is not possible either.