London Drugs president apologizes for cyberattack shutdown as investigation continues

People wait outside of the London Drugs Kerrisdale location on Monday, April. 29, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

The head of London Drugs is apologizing to customers after all the retailer's stores in Western Canada were shuttered last month by a cybersecurity breach that remains under investigation.

President and chief operating officer Clint Mahlman issued a letter Wednesday offering his "sincere apologies for the inconvenience and any concerns" that arose amid the week-long closure of the company's 79 stores across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

While Mahlman didn't elaborate on the nature of the breach targeting the company, he said the retailer had security measures in place, but "given the rapidly evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats, no organization can be 100 per cent safe from advanced cybersecurity incidents orchestrated by sophisticated third parties."

All London Drugs locations that were forced to close abruptly on April 28 had reopened by early this week.

The Richmond, B.C.-based retailer says it has found no evidence that customer databases, including health data from its pharmacies, were compromised in the cybersecurity breach.

"However, should we discover any evidence that customer information was impacted, we will inform our customers and privacy commissioners in accordance with privacy laws," the company president said.

"At the outset, we proactively alerted the privacy commissions in the provinces we operate in and have reported this incident to law enforcement."

Beyond forcing the retailer to close its physical locations, the security breach also prompted company leadership to temporarily disable its telephone lines as part of a system-wide effort to locate and contain the breach.

"As soon as we became aware of suspicious activity in our environment, we immediately engaged third-party cybersecurity specialists from across North America to assist with containment, mitigation, and to conduct a forensic investigation," Mahlman said. "Our investigation is ongoing."

During the store closures, retail staff were offered the choice of either coming to work to prepare for reopening by cleaning and stocking shelves, or they could use their vacation days and stay home, a company spokesperson told CTV News on Tuesday.

The company president commended London Drugs employees, referring to them as "the backbone of our organization" in the letter.

"We even had experienced retired employees show up to lend a hand given their considerable experience and historical knowledge," he added.