Molson Coors disclosed on Thursday that it had suffered a breach that disrupted operations and beer production. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Molson Coors chief communications and corporate affairs officer, Adam Collins, said in an emailed statement, “We have engaged a leading forensic IT firm to assist our investigation into the incident and are working around the clock to get our systems back up as quickly as possible.”
While the type of breach hasn’t been publicly disclosed, but many suspect it was a ransomware attack. Niamh Muldoon, global data protection officer with OneLogin, told ZDNet, “Ransomware remains a global cybersecurity threat and is the one cybercrime that has a high direct return of investment associated with it, by holding the victims’ ransom for financial payment. On a global scale, cybercriminals will continue to focus their efforts on this revenue-generating stream. This reinforces what we’ve said before that no industry is exempt from the ransomware threat and it requires constant focus, assessment and review to ensure that critical information assets remain safeguarded and protected against it.” CTV News asked whether the breach was related to the Microsoft breach of Exchange servers, and Molson Coors declined to comment.
Molson Coors isn’t the first major beverage manufacturer to have suffered a breach. In November, Campari Group, the famed Italian beverage vendor behind brands like Campari, Cinzano, and Appleton, was hit with a ransomware attack that took down a large part of its IT network.
So, if a big company like Molson Coors can fall victim to an attack, what chance does your business stand against these cyber threats? While these attacks are becoming more of a matter of when not if, there are things your company can do to lessen the blow. Follow these steps well will lessen your recovery time and you will not need to pay a ransom.
- Patch security vulnerabilities regularly.
- Use multifactor authentication wherever possible.
- Make cyber awareness training part of your regular employee training.
- Maintain regular offline and offsite back-ups so you can always restore your network.
Need help securing your business against a cyber attack? Uzado Can help. Contact us today!