The Japanese subsidiary behind major beer brands in Australia, such as XXXX, James Squire, Hahn and Little Creatures, has been hit by a cyberattack that has left its IT system and manufacturing temporarily disrupted, according to an exclusive report by Ben Grubb from the Sydney Morning Herald.
It’s reported that workers lost remote access to the company’s internal IT system on Tuesday morning due to the cyberattack and closed it down as a precaution. It is currently unclear the party or parties responsible for the breach.
“Lion has experienced a cyber incident and has taken the precaution of shutting down our IT systems, causing some disruption to our suppliers and customers,” the company said to Sydney Morning Herald.
“We are working with expert advisors to address the issue. We have alerted the authorities and are working hard to minimise disruption to customers and suppliers. We will provide further updates when we can, and we thank our customers and suppliers for their patience.”
Despite some deliveries still being made as the attack happened, it’s been forced to cease manufacturing its beer products for the time being. It will instead rely on existing stocks it had accrued due to a drop in demand with coronavirus restrictions on pubs in place.
Production of its juice and dairy brands is also being impacted with Lion confirming with the Sydney Morning Herald it would reduce it to a limited capacity. In addition to the popular beers Lion produces, it’s also responsible for juice brands such as Berri and Just Juice as well as milk products like Pura, Dairy Farmers, Big M and Dare Iced Coffee.
It’s unknown when Lion expects its manufacturing process to restart in full but Gizmodo Australia has contacted Lion to understand when that might be and whether stocks are expected to be limited in the coming weeks.
Source: gizmodo.com.au
