Dive Brief:
- Kwik Trip’s recent network outage was most likely due to a cybersecurity incident, the company stated in social media announcements on Thursday evening.
- Kwik Trip said the company’s loyalty website and mobile app remain down as of Friday morning, but in-store loyalty transactions can now be processed in many stores. It hopes to restore full functionality “within the next few days.”
- The company reiterated there is no indication that credit card information was compromised in the attack, which began on Oct. 9, and that mitigation efforts began within hours after the event began.
Dive Insight:
While Kwik Trip’s announcement did not state definitively that the systems outage that began earlier this month stemmed from a cybersecurity attack, it noted that its ongoing “forensic investigation” indicates that was the likely cause.
“The investigation into the nature and scope of this is ongoing and in its early stages,” the company said in the announcement. “Done correctly and thoroughly, these investigations take time to complete.”
The disruption primarily affected Kwik Trip’s internal communications, loyalty program and its production facility in La Crosse, Wisconsin. It impacted access to the company’s website and app, loyalty rewards, payroll systems and more. Kwik Trip posted signs on its doors and inside stores apologizing to customers for the outage.
Payment systems were not affected, Thursday’s announcement noted.
Kwik Trip plans to send a communication to all loyalty members once the website and app are back up, according to Thursday’s announcement. That message will also include details on the company’s plan to restore rewards missed during the outages.
Some commenters on Facebook noted that the payment website for Kwik Trip’s credit cards was also down, meaning they could not make payments that were coming due. Kwik Trip’s account replied that the payments site should come back online when the Kwik Rewards site does, and noted the company would “work with you in resolving and correcting any potential late penalties assessed by Kwik Trip as soon as Kwik Rewards comes back online.”
La Crosse, Wisconsin-based Kwik Trip is one of the largest c-store operators in the U.S. with over 800 locations in its network
