Last week it was reported that Lion had been forced to shut down some of their systems as a result of a cyber attack.

The company first reported the issue on June 9, announcing that they had shut down their IT systems and causing some disruption to suppliers and customers. The next day, they detailed further impacts to the brewing side of the business but clarified there was no risk of a product shortage for the time being.

Now, in the latest update on the situation, Lion have said that the cyber attack was caused by ransomware, but they believe at this stage that no data has been compromised.

In a statement on June 12, the company said that: “Our investigations to date have shown that a system outage has been caused by ransomware. The ransomware targeted our computer systems. In response, we immediately shut down key systems as a precaution.

“Our IT teams and expert cyber advisors are working around the clock, investigating the issue and assessing how long the impacts will continue. Our focus is on bringing systems back online safely so we can resume our business as usual manufacturing, and customer services. This is taking some time, but it is necessary that we work through this properly.”

“We had been hoping to have full access restored by now, but unfortunately this process is taking longer than we hoped. There is no evidence that any of the information contained in our system (including financial or personal information) has been affected but this is something that we will review closely as we continue to investigate the incident.” 

According to global cyber safety company Norton, put simply, ransomware is malware that locks and encrypts a victim’s computer system and demands a ransom be paid in order to restore access. In recent months, ransomware is reportedly the cause of cyber incidents at companies including Honda, Toll Group and Fisher and Paykel. 

The latest update from Lion also outlined that there may be some short term product shortages because of their breweries’ reliance on IT systems.

“Throughout the COVID-19 shutdown, we were able to continue to brew beer safely. We had stock at hand and were gearing up to increase brewing. This attack has delayed those plans, and because of the situation we have limited visibility of our products. We’re working to bring our breweries back online as soon as possible. In the meantime, we will be managing our stock levels very closely and may see some temporary shortages. 

“We apologise in advance to our customers and consumers and ask for their patience as we do what we can to get back to normal supply levels.

“Our teams are working as hard as they can to service customers and suppliers, implementing new manual processes and investigating all alternative options. We recognise this is imperfect and is causing disruption to our valued partners. We also recognise this is happening at an unfortunate time as we emerge from COVID-19 restrictions.”

 More updates are expected to come soon.

Brydie Allen

Brydie Allen is the Editor of National Liquor News. She has been with Food and Beverage Media since 2019, when she joined the company as a journalist across National Liquor News, Bars & Clubs, The...

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