Also this: Putin’s cybercriminals attacked the luxury department store KaDeWe, owned by Signa, in Berlin. After the financial turmoil, the next unpleasant surprise follows for real estate billionaire René Benko…
Just as the Christmas season was just beginning, wealthy customers found themselves queuing at the checkout with their credit cards at the traditional luxury department store of the West in the German capital over the weekend and were unable to pay. The backdrop will likely be a large-scale attack on the company’s computer network by Russian hackers calling themselves “Play.” The KaDeWe directors announced this in a circular on Tuesday.
Benkos Signa has owned just over half of the shares since March this year. The new co-owner is a Thai real estate group. Two other German department stores, which also belong to the group of companies, are also affected. A report has been filed.
Offline Notbetrieb
As a precaution, the IT system of the Nobel shopping center has been put into offline emergency mode. As mentioned, card payments are again possible both on site and online. At the same time, the company’s management is trying to reassure people that “the attack was repelled at a very early stage and the consequences were significantly limited.”
The researchers also have “no indications that customer account data was affected.” The passwords would also not have been within the access range of the Russian hackers. We are “in close contact” with the cybercrime unit of the Berlin police.
Another problem on the long list for Benko is the current downgrade of Signa to ‘high risk’ by a rating agency.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
