When the website for Indigo Books & Music went offline on February 8, the company called the occurrence a “cybersecurity incident.” Details—the nature of the attack, how far-reaching its impact was, who was behind it—were scarce. In response to social media inquiries, the company repeated it was working with third-party experts to determine what happened and that more information would be made available as it came to light. In the meantime, Indigo stores struggled to process credit- and debit-card transactions, and people waiting for online orders were left with no idea when their purchases would arrive.
One week in, with no improvement on Indigo’s website and scant updates from the company, there were media rumblings that the incident was, in fact, a ransomware attack—a type of cyberattack that locks targets out of their computers or online systems until a ransom is paid, usually in difficult-to-trace cryptocurrency. Indigo responded to data concerns by assuring the public that, to the best of the company’s knowledge, no customer information was stolen.
