Recovery underway following SLGA cyber security incident, leading to liquor shortages

The Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA) says its distribution centre has resumed full operations following a cyber security incident on Christmas Day.

The incident impacted SLGA’s computer systems. According to multiple retailers 650 CKOM spoke to Monday, the incident has caused a shortage of alcohol throughout the province.

Spokesperson David Morris later confirmed the link between the shortage and the cyberattack.

“During the past two weeks we’ve been running our distribution centre in Regina with a manual pick-and-ship process while the system was brought back online,” he said.

That meant retailers that would normally make their orders and purchases through the distribution site couldn’t do so because all of the computers were shut down.

“That limited the available products to 50 of the top-selling products,” he said. “And that was just an interim measure while we were able to get our computer systems back up and running, which we’ve now done.”

SLGA said it moved quickly to secure its systems, with independent experts brought in to deal with the incident.

“Recovery from this incident is well underway. SLGA’s distribution centre has resumed full operations, including access to SLGA’s full catalogue of products. SLGA continues to work closely with retailers and liquor suppliers to ensure regular operations related to the inbound and outbound flow of products,” a news release from SLGA reads.

Morris says the issue has been fixed, and retailers should be getting their shipments sometime this week. For customers, it means fewer bare shelves.

“We appreciate the support and the patience that retailers have shown with us across the province,” he added.

Morris couldn’t say though, where the cyberattack came from, or how much it may have cost outlets across the province.

The news release said work is still being done with bringing other systems back online, which includes SLGA’s website.

Further investigations have shown that some personal information of employees, “may have been accessed by an unauthorized third party.”

Because of this, SLGA is notifying current and former employees to provide credit monitoring.

“Although there are currently no findings within the ongoing investigation to indicate this personal information has been used in any way, this action is being taken out of an abundance of caution. Information about credit monitoring is being sent directly to employees by mail,” the release states.

SLGA said it is unaware of any impacts on client information.