RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Porto Alegre-based Renner, the largest Brazilian department store clothing chain, was the victim of a ransomware attack on Thursday, August 19, that knocked out the company’s e-commerce system. The company confirmed the attack in a statement made available to the market.
According to the company, the attack “resulted in partial unavailability of its systems and operations” but did not impact the operation of its physical stores.
“At the moment, the company is working diligently and in a focused manner to mitigate the impact caused, with most operations already restored and verified that key databases are preserved.”
According to the NeoFeed portal, the databases were encrypted, and the criminals demanded a ransom for the information.
Ransomware attacks are a type of digital criminal activity in which a user or company’s computer systems and networks are “hijacked” and rendered unusable. The hackers then demand a transfer of money to release the data.
Many experts advise against paying for these attacks, as there is no guarantee that the computers will be released. Nevertheless, this type of criminal activity is becoming more common as the hackers target victims with cyber insurance policies and large amounts of confidential consumer data.
JBS’s U.S. operations, for example, fell victim to such an attack in May. Later, the company confirmed that it paid a ransom of US$11 million in Bitcoin to the hackers to get the data back.
LOJAS RENNER
Lojas Renner is the largest Brazilian department stores clothing company, headquartered in Porto Alegre, capital of the Rio Grande do Sul state.
It was the first Brazilian corporation with 100% of shares traded on the Stock Exchange and listed on the Novo Mercado, the highest among the different levels of corporate governance in the São Paulo Stock Exchange (B3).
Its main competitors are Lojas Riachuelo, C&A and Hering.