LCBO Website, App Offline Following Cyberattack

A “cybersecurity incident” has disrupted some services for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). The company shared that its website and mobile app are down and that it is working to get the services back online. LCBO did state that the in-store experience has not been hampered.

LCBO shared on Twitter that its website and app are down following a cyberattack. Its parent company, Crown, said the matter is being investigated and but it is unclear when the services will be back on. In a statement, LCBO said, “The LCBO is responding to a cybersecurity incident affecting LCBO.com. The in-store experience remains unaffected. We thank our customers for their patience and understanding.”

The Crown agency shared the news at around 1 p.m. on January 10 and informed the public about the services being down. It did not share the reason for the disruption at the time, which was later confirmed to be a cybersecurity incident.

At the time of writing, the LCBO website is still out of operation. It is unclear when the services will resume.

Cases of cyber-attacks have been on the rise in Canada. Recently, SickKids hospital in Toronto was hit with a ransomware attack that took its systems offline. However, in this case, the ransomware group called LockBit apologized for the ransomware attack and offered a free tool to unlock the data. Additionally, the parent company of the Sobeys grocery store chain also said last month that the cyberattack will cost it $25 million.

Vineet Washington