A major cyberattack affects companies in the United States and abroad

US company Cassia, which provides several companies with information technology management service, was hit by a cyberattack on Friday that required more than 1,000 companies using its systems to pay ransom, Sweden forced a well-known warehouse chain in the U.S. to temporarily close about 800 of its stores. stores in the country.

Swedish company “Kop Sweden” announced that cyberattacks have paralyzed its activities, which represents about 20% of the territory in the country with a turnover of about 1.5 billion euros.

It is currently difficult to estimate the actual scale of this ransomware cyber attack.

This type of software exploits vulnerabilities found in companies or individuals and encrypts computer systems and demands a ransom to restart them.

Cassia was alerted to an attack on her VSA program in the afternoon on the East Coast of the United States, ahead of the long weekend because Monday is a public holiday.

The company announced on Friday evening that the attack was limited to “under 40 of its customers” in the world.

However, these customers in turn provide services to other companies.

According to “Huntress Labs,” a company specializing in cyber security, the attack affected “more than a thousand companies.”

Headquartered in Miami, Florida, Cassia Corporation provides IT tools for small and medium businesses, including VSA tools for managing network servers, PCs and printers from a single source. The company has more than forty thousand customers.

The US Agency for Cyber ​​Security and Infrastructure Security announced that it is “monitoring the situation closely,” according to its cyber security officer Eric Goldstein.

“We are working with Cassia and coordinating with the FBI to launch an awareness campaign for potential victims,” ​​Goldstein told AFP.

Several US companies, information conglomerate SolarWinds, oil pipeline network Colonial Pipeline or even global meat giant GPS have recently been targeted with ransomware attacks that slow or even slow their production. has stopped.

The US Federal Police blamed hackers on Russian soil working with the Kremlin’s tacit approval for the attacks.

A cyber security expert at consulting firm Wavestone said hackers usually target different companies.

“In the process, they attacked a company that provides software for managing information systems, which enabled them to access dozens of companies or hundreds of them at the same time.”

He stressed that knowing the actual number of companies affected by the attack is too complicated because the targeted companies lose their means of communication.

He added that Cassia, which has asked its customers to shut down its systems, could not tell whether the system was shut down “voluntarily or forcibly.”

“The initial thinking was that it was not about the Russian government, but we are not sure yet,” said US President Joe Biden, who ordered the investigation on Saturday.

“I will know better tomorrow, and if it is with knowledge and/or as a result of Russia (action), I have told Putin that we will respond,” Biden said.

“This latest ransomware attack affecting hundreds of companies reminds the US government that it must fight back against these criminal foreign cyber groups,” said Christopher Roberti, responsible for cyber security at the US Chamber of Commerce.