Last week a cyber attack caused Lion to shut down some of their systems, causing disruption to suppliers and customers.
In Lion’s latest update on the situation, they described how operations had been paused at breweries due to their reliance on shut down IT systems. Although there was some stock on hand, the pause would cause temporary shortages on both packaged (bottle/can) and keg products.
A statement issued by Lion earlier this week said: “While our systems are offline, we have worked very hard to be able to supply a limited number of key products to our customers. We will continue to accept and fulfil orders as best we can, using interim manual processes where we need to.”
But there is hope on the horizon, as Lion confirmed to The Shout that both Little Creatures breweries and the XXXX brewery are now back online and have resumed production, as of yesterday and today.
Lion said that their team is working around the clock to be able to restart production elsewhere safely also, although it’s not possible to give exact time frames at this stage.
In a statement, the company said: “We’re working to bring our breweries back online as soon as possible, hoping to get a number of our breweries back up and running very soon.”
“The restoration process is taking time but it’s important that we do this methodically and safely as we work to resume normal business operations.”
The statement also took the time to apologise to affected customers and consumers, and remind everyone to stay vigilant about their own cyber safety.
“We apologise to our consumers and customers, especially those who are only just getting their own venues back up and running following COVID-19 closures. We thank them for their patience as we do everything we can to get back to normal supply levels.”
“We would also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone to be vigilant about cyber safety, particularly in terms of telephone, SMS, email and social media phishing scams requesting personal information or payment of money. It’s advisable to avoid opening attachments from unknown senders and ensure that any communications are legitimate before responding.
More information about phishing scams and general cyber safety can be found at Scamwatch and Cyber.gov.au.
Lion is expected to make another update later today. You can find rolling updates as they come here.