Cyberattack Against Molson Coors Impacts Brewery Operations, Production, and Shipments
The wave of big-name companies falling victim to disruptive malware attacks is showing no signs of slowing down with beverage conglomerate Molson Coors Beverage Company announcing on Thursday that it was recovering from an incident that severely disrupted its production operations.
The company’s disclosure of the incident, believed to be a ransomware infection, was contained in an 8K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that discusses an “a systems outage that was caused by a cybersecurity incident.”
Molson Coors, makers of popular beer brands in the U.S., confirmed the malware attack has caused delays and disruptions to parts of the business handling brewery operations, production, and shipments.
The company produces several iconic beer brands including Coors Light, Miller Lite, Molson Canadian, Carling, Coors Banquet, Blue Moon and others.
The company said it was “actively managing” the incident through an engagement with leading forensic information technology firms.
“[We are] working around the clock to get its systems back up as quickly as possible,” the company said in the filing.
The company did not provide technical details of the incident.
The Molson Coors Beverage Company’s problems with ransomware mirror similar attacks that have resulted in production being disrupted for a manufacturing company. Earlier this month, French boat maker Groupe Beneteau fell victim to a cyberattack that forced a production shut down for several days. Last month packaging giant WestRock said a ransomware incident impacted the company’s information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) systems.
