The Molson Coors Beverage Co., one of the nation's leading brewers, ceased production this week after hackers interrupted operations.
The cyberattack took its systems offline and disrupted production and shipment, company officials said in a regulatory filing. Details on the nature of the attack were not disclosed.
"Molson Coors experienced a systems outage that was caused by a cybersecurity incident," the company said in a statement.
Molson Coors owns the Coors and Miller brands as well as Molson Canadian, Blue Moon, Peroni, Grolsch, Killian's and Foster's. The company wouldn't say how many of its breweries in the U.S. were affected. It owns breweries and packaging plants in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
The beer maker didn't elaborate on the attack. However, some security analysts called the incident a ransomware attack. In November, Campari Group, the Italian beverage vendor behind brands such as Campari, Cinzano and Appleton, was hit by a ransomware attack that damaged a significant part of its information technology network.
Molson Coors wouldn't reveal if the cyberattack was linked to an international breach of servers running the Microsoft Exchange email program. The attack affected small enterprises, law firms, city governments and manufacturers.
Speaking of the incident, Niamh Muldoon, a data security officer with OneLogin, said the attacks demonstrated how cyber attackers threaten high-profile organizations to disrupt core corporate and industrial activities.
Last month, in its annual report, Molson Coors warned of potential technological risks:
"Because of our reliance on third-party service providers and internal and outsourced systems, we could experience a disruption to our business."
It mentioned effects on supply chain, manufacturing and invoicing. While Molson Coors reports it spends "significant financial resources to protect against threats and cyber-attacks," a "breach of our information systems could cause material financial or reputational harm."
The company is working to get systems back up. A forensic IT firm is assisting with the investigation.
The details of the Securities and Exchange Commission filing are here.
