Hackers Steal Millions From European Retailer

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – European discount retailer Pepco Group is trying to calm down families in Hungary seeking cheaper products during inflation, saying it will continue operations after computer hackers stole 15 million euros ($16.3 million).

Pepco, which reportedly lost 10 percent in market value in the stock exchange, said it was “unclear at this stage whether the funds could be recovered.”

However, “Pepco is pursuing various efforts through its banking partners and the police,” the company said in comments monitored by Worthy News on Friday.

“At this stage,” the incident does not appear to have involved any customer, supplier, or staff information or data, it added.

Pepco said the group had a strong balance sheet with access to more than 400 million euros in liquidity from cash and credit facilities and continued to generate strong cash flow from its operations.

It did not provide further details on the latest cyber attack, part of a series of similar incidents across Europe.

“The Group takes financial controls and [Internet Technology] IT security extremely seriously and is currently conducting a group-wide review of all systems and processes to secure the business more robustly going forward,” Pepco stressed.

Pepco Group reported first-quarter revenue of 1.9 billion euros, including in Hungary, where shoppers sought to cope with inflation of more than 20 percent last year, the highest in the European Union.

Pepco has 3,600 stores across Europe, of which more than 1,300 are in Poland and nearly 350 in Hungary. The retail chain mainly offers clothing and household products.

Yet its IT troubles come at a time of worries about the safety of computer networks in Europe amid fears of cyber attacks by countries such as Russia and crime groups that impact critical operations ranging from payment systems to the military and energy infrastructure.

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