The Mount Airy Police Department is investigating a case in which someone from Russia apparently hacked into a computer of a local drugstore.

However, officials of Hospital Pharmacy at 814 Worth St., the business victimized, say no records of customers or their medications were involved in the hacking. The incident apparently occurred between Friday and Monday, when it was reported to police.

“Nobody’s personal information has been compromised,” Laura Davis, a spokesperson for Hospital Pharmacy, said Tuesday. “It really does not affect any of our customers.”

The crime involved a computer in the business office which houses documents and other materials used by the store as part of its day-to-day operations, said David Patterson, Hospital Pharmacy’s president.

Patterson added that it has been determined the hacker worked from a computer with a Russian address to “zip” files on the local computer and make them inaccessible to the pharmacy. This has put store personnel into the position of trying to retrieve those files without destroying the information.

“And we’re recovering them now,” Patterson said late Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the store’s pharmacy records are on an entirely different system, he stressed. “The pharmacy computer can’t be hacked into,’’ Patterson said, which meant the intruder’s actions affected none of its information. “All our pharmacy records are completely safe.”

The Hospital Pharmacy official added that while the case is being handled by the Mount Airy Police Department, it eventually could be taken on by some international investigative agency such as Interpol due to the Russian link.

Hackers typically invade computers to steal data for financial or other gain or for malicious purposes such as spreading viruses.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.