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CRIME

Danish 7-Eleven stores back on grid after ransomware attack

Almost all of 7-Eleven’s 176 Denmark locations are back up and running with the help of a backup system, the company said on Thursday. 

Danish 7-Eleven stores back on grid after ransomware attack
Danish 7-Eleven stores have suffered an outage lasting several days after a cyber attack. Photo: Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix

In an email to news wire Ritzau, 7-eleven said that over 96 percent of its convenience stores across Denmark were now in “stable operation”. That corresponds to around 169 stores.

“We have technicians at the remaining stores who are working hard to get them up and running as soon as possible,” the company said in the email.

However, convenience stores at train stations (where you can buy a transport card) were only accepting Dankort (debit card) payments as of Wednesday evening.

All operational stores outside of train stations currently accept Mobile Pay (app) and cash payments, and many can take Visa, Mastercard, and Dankort. 

“We expect that all stores outside of train stations can accept all Visa, Mastercard, and Dankort during the course of tomorrow morning, and all stores at train stations [will be able to] during the course of the week,” the company wrote late on Wednesday.

The convenience store chain was on Monday hit by a cyber attack that forced all of its 176 stores in Denmark to close.

7-Eleven has confirmed that the outage was due to a ransomware attack — hackers demanded money to return access to the company’s data and systems. 

The attack has been reported to police.

The company’s CEO, Jesper Østergaard, told Ritzau he did not know the extent of losses suffered by 7-Eleven as a result of the incident.

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CRIME

Why Copenhagen police say crime is on the up in Christiania

Crime in Copenhagen’s hippie enclave of Christiania is increasing, police in the capital say following a number of drugs-related arrests.

Why Copenhagen police say crime is on the up in Christiania

Copenhagen Police arrested three men on Saturday for selling cannabis on Pusher Street in the alternative enclave of Christiania, as they continue their efforts to stamp out the area’s former open-air cannabis market. 

According to police, 875 people were arrested for selling cannabis in the first 11 months of 2022, more than in any other year over the past four years. 

A possible explanation for the increase in arrests could be that the rewards for operating hash stands have receded, according to a police spokesperson.

“It is extremely unattractive to stand out there, and therefore a lot of new people come in who have no idea what it is all about. Many of them come from outside the catchment area, and some of them are peripherally associated with a criminal group,” Simon Hansen, head of a Copenhagen Police special unit, told newspaper Politiken.

“It’s a bit – in inverted commas – ‘easier’ for us to catch these people,” he said. 

Around half of the stalls in the street are linked to various gangs and biker gangs, such as Satudarah, Bandidos, Hells Angels and Loyal To Familia, with the rest run by people living in Christiania, the Berlingske newspaper reported earlier this month.

The trend of rising crime occurs against a background of potential housing develop in Christiania, as the enclave’s residents decide on a plan to put affordable housing in the area.

Copenhagen Police last year told news wire Ritzau that the majority of people who are arrested within Christiania come from socially underprivileged or marginalised backgrounds.

They are exploited in gang and biker circles, resulting in them in some cases operating the illicit hash market stalls, according to the police.

Conflicts between organised crime groups have reportedly become more frequently aired in the Pusher Street market.

READ ALSO: Denmark’s ‘freetown’ Christiania hangs onto soul, 50 years on

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