The brewing company XXXX has suffered a cyber attack that forced it to shutdown all of its computer systems, causing some delays in its distribution process, an incident that even end customers might have noticed, according to reports.
The company disclosed that its safety teams are working hard to “minimize disruptions experienced by customers and suppliers” although it is not yet clear what steps the company took to deal with the incident. A close source claims that external cybersecurity specialists are collaborating in the computer attack recovery process, in addition to local authorities having already been notified.
It has been reported that some of the brands owned by the same company have also been affected due to shutdowns and temporary interruptions in production and distribution. Industry professionals, including UNSW Professor Greg Austin, who serves as deputy director of UNSW Canberra Cyber, suggests that the attack is likely to be related to the acquisition of Lion Drinks & Dairy, the parent company, by a Chinese corporation. The expert also believes that the attack had far more serious consequences than the company has admitted: “It has not yet been confirmed if it is a ransomware attack. But that the company has decided to shut down its IT operations, it’s unusual behavior and suggests finding some variant of encryption malware,” Professor Austin told a cybersecurity news platform.
“However, if the threat actors managed to access the company’s networks and get persistence, the only way out might be the use of backup files,” the expert added.
According to the Australian authorities, over the past year almost 11% of companies reported the detection of a security incident on their networks. Within these affected companies, most are large consumer product firms.
Professor Austin said that because of the nature of a company’s business operations, they may feel that they are unlikely to be attacked, until this happens.
Due to the timing of this attack, cybersecurity specialists believe it could be related to other security incidents involving the use of encryption malware against a large company. A couple of weeks ago, two cybersecurity companies revealed that they had suffered devastating ransomware attacks, so some consider that there is a relationship between the multiple recently detected ransomware attacks.
He is a cyber security and malware researcher. He studied Computer Science and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2006. He is actively working as an cyber security investigator. He also worked for different security companies. His everyday job includes researching about new cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in enterprise security implementation.