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E-Land Group closed the business on the second and third floors of the New Core Outlet Gangnam branch prematurely due to a ransomware attack. Photo reporter Bae Jeong-won
“There is everything in the world.”
22 at 3pm. Customers who took the escalator from the first floor of the New Core Outlet Gangnam branch in Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, to the second floor Young Casual store, could not hide their embarrassment in front of the tightly closed blinds . Those looking for articles related to their smartphones read an article about the ransomware attack against E-Land Group and then turned around saying, “What is it?”
At 3 am that day, E-Land Group was attacked by ransomware. Subsequently, product code recognition and card approval were not possible in some offline stores, and half of the New Core Outlets and NC Department Stores operated by this company were closed or partially opened. Ransomware is a type of malicious software that infects a user’s computer system, restricts access, and demands money in exchange for its release. An E-Land Group official said: “After acknowledging that the company’s network system was attacked by ransomware, we blocked part of the company’s network system to minimize the damage.” said.
E-Land Group closed the business on the second and third floors of the New Core Outlet Gangnam branch prematurely due to a ransomware attack. Photo reporter Bae Jeong-won
The system blocked by E-Land Group is linked to the point of sale (POS) information management system of some stores. This is why 23 of the 50 NC Department Store and New Core Outlet stores have a sales disruption. The aftermath of the Bulgwang branch of the North Carolina department store and the Suwon terminal branch were also affected.
The New Core Outlet Gangnam branch, which the reporter visited that day, ended early on the second and third floors selling youth casual wear and women’s clothing. There were quite a few consumers who went to shop for additional ‘Brand Day’ discounts from womenswear brands Jill Stewart and Vanessa Bruno. Kim Mo (53), a housewife living in Banpo-dong, expressed her dissatisfaction and said: “I went out to buy a coat because it was colder, but to no avail.”
With the exception of the second and third floors, the rest of the stores were open, but the discomfort of the customers remained. A customer who tried to return a product at the first floor shoe store also had problems with the store clerk for a long time when he said the return could not be processed due to a computer failure.
E-Land Group closed the business on the second and third floors of the New Core Outlet Gangnam branch prematurely due to a ransomware attack. Photo reporter Bae Jeong-won
E-Land is currently working to normalize its business by conducting recovery work through internal and external security experts. This afternoon, the New Core Outlet Gwangmyeong branch reopened some stores. At the New Core Gangseo branch, the underground food center and Kim’s Club have been closed, but some fashion stores have resumed operations. However, all stores will take longer to open normally.
E-Land Group plans to form a Response Task Force (TF) team to respond to ransomware attacks, while rapidly recovering the system to minimize consumer inconvenience. To clarify the details of the case, the police also requested an investigation.
Meanwhile, it is unusual for department stores and outlet stores in Korea to stop due to ransomware attacks. Overseas, there was a ‘WannaCry’ incident that shook the world in 2017. At that time, around 300,000 computers were shut down in at least 150 countries. The US Department of the Treasury has also prosecuted a person named Park Jin-hyuk, a North Korean hacker who belongs to the Lazarus Group, for committing a WannaCry ransomware attack. The Lazarus Group has been conducting comprehensive hacking activities targeting not only the core infrastructure of third countries, but also the government, military, financial institutions, businesses, and the media.
Reporters Kwak Jae-min and Bae Jeong-won [email protected]
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