The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reported on the 23rd that Atlanta-based Coca-Cola has suspended dairy production in the United States due to a hacking incident. According to the report, the ransomware group “Anubis” claimed on the dark web that day that it had hacked the servers of Coca-Cola’s dairy brand, Fairlife. The group asserted that if their demands were not met by the 27th, they would release one terabyte of confidential information.
Earlier, Coca-Cola headquarters announced that it would suspend operations at its Fairlife plants in the U.S. starting on the 16th due to the hacking. In a statement, Coca-Cola said, “An unauthorized third party accessed our internal systems, and the full extent of the damage is under investigation.” Coca-Cola acquired Fairlife, a brand specializing in milk and dairy products, in 2020.
Coca-Cola added that the hacking incident has not affected production in Canada. Professor Ramnas Chelapa of Emory University’s School of Management stated, “It has not been confirmed whether this group is indeed the one responsible for the hacking, and only Coca-Cola would know how much ransom they are demanding.” The AJC added that as of the 23rd, Coca-Cola had not responded to media inquiries regarding the extent of the hacking damage, the scale of system recovery, or whether production would resume.