The Biggest Supermarket In Portugal Attacked By Hackers, The Site Is Down, Stocks Plummeted As The Result

The cyberattack hit Portugal's largest supermarket. (photo; doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA – A cyber attack has crippled the website of Portugal's largest food retailer, Modelo Continente. The attack affected several services in its stores on Wednesday, March 30, the company owned by the Sonae group said, without providing further details.

The main website for online shopping is down, and displays the message "Under maintenance. Please try again later".

In a statement, Modelo Continente, which runs about 300 hypermarkets and large supermarkets in Portugal, said that hacker attacks on its systems had "affected some communications on commercial sites and some in-store services."

It is said that their team is currently investigating the disruption that was created and is working to restore their service, as soon as possible, to normal functioning from business again.

Local media said payments at the store were largely unaffected, but clients reported problems getting their shopping bills and using Continente loyalty cards.

As a result of the attack Sonae's shares were little changed at 1.013 euros on the Euronext Lisbon stock exchange.

Since the start of this year, two other major Portuguese companies, media and television conglomerate Impresa and Portugal's Vodafone telecommunications, have also been hit by hackers.

Overall these hacking attacks in recent years have increased very sharply in Europe which makes deep concerns about the security system of the internet network. Moreover, hacking is not only carried out by individuals or groups, but also sponsored by certain countries.