Coke Taking Break From Milk Game After Cyberattack

Coca-Cola has temporarily halted production of Fairlife Milk after a cyberattack against their production systems on Thursday.

An unauthorized third-party user accessed Fairlife — a Chicago-based milk company owned by the beverage giant — affecting their production systems in a ransomware attack, according to a press release from Coca-Cola.

“After detecting the issue, the company promptly activated its incident response and business continuity protocols. The company’s investigation and assessment of the impact of the incident is ongoing, with the assistance of outside advisors and cybersecurity experts,” The Coca-Cola Company said in a statement.

Coca-Cola told the Daily Caller News Foundation that it did not have anything to share beyond its press release.

The impact of the incident is unknown but product quality and safety was not impacted and production will still continue in Canada, according to the statement.

Ransomware attacks occur when malware infiltrates a system while restricting access to it and then demanding payment to regain access, according to UPI.

“The company is working diligently to complete the investigation and restore the systems and impacted operations,” Coca-Cola said in their statement.

Coca-Cola purchased Fairlife for around $7 billion in 2020, according to CBS. Annual Coca-Cola sales from Fairlife Milk top $3 billion.

Coca-Cola owns hundreds of beverage brands sold to over 200 countries, according to their statement. The company has alerted law enforcement of the attack.