American beverage manufacturer Coca-Cola said one of its dairy subsidiaries had been hacked and the company would cease operations in the near future. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the multinational conglomerate said its Fairlife dairy company was infected with ransomware and its production systems were also affected. The company said Fairlife production operations across the U.S. were “temporarily suspended.”
Fairlife’s operations in Canada will not be affected.
Coca-Cola is one of the world’s largest companies, producing a variety of products including carbonated beverages, water, and dairy products. Fairlife dairy products are one of the company’s major brands and are expected to generate approximately $4 billion in sales by 2024.
Ransomware attacks on food and beverage companies can have lasting impacts. Accidents at Arizona Beverages in 2019 and at food distribution giant UNFI last year disrupted those production lines and left empty grocery shelves for weeks.
Coca-Cola did not say when Fairlife’s systems would be restored.
Are you aware of the Fairlife cyber attack? Do you work at a company? We’d like to hear from you. If you’re not on a work device, you can safely contact Zack Whittaker in the Signal messaging app using the username zackwhittaker.1337..
