Belgium’s Duvel Beer Hit By Ransom Attack

Uploaded on 2024-03-18 in FREE TO VIEW, TECHNOLOGY--Hackers

Four breweries owned by Belgian beer firm Duvel has ground to a halt after a cyber-attack.

The company says it fell victim to the suspected ransomware attack "during the night from Tuesday 5th to Wednesday 6th March."

Belgian brewer Duvel has insisted it will have enough beer to keep supply flowing after it was hit by a cyber attack that brought production to a standstill.

The company, one of the best-known Belgian beer brands, was hit by a suspected ransomware attack on Tuesday night that shut down five of its production facilities, four of which are in Belgium along with one in Kansas City, Missouri.

Duvel is a Belgian beer brand best known for its strong and fruity golden pale ale bearing the same name. The brewery also makes other popular abbey beers such as Vedett, Maredsous, and La Chouffe that are enjoyed all over the world.

Initially, five of its production facilities were shut down - one has since come back online.

Duvel said it was currently unable to give further details "as the investigation into the cause of the cyber-attack is ongoing."

"The built-in command systems and alarms in the IT-system worked well, so our IT department was immediately informed of the attack," the company said in a statement.

"The servers were immediately shut down, which also shut down production at the four Belgian production sites and the production site in Kansas City."

Duvel said that one plant, in Puurs-Sint-Amands in Belgium, was now back up and running, but production at the other four was still halted.

Duvel, which also produces beers such as Chouffe, Vedett and Liefmans made €583m (£497m) in revenue in 2022.

That year it produced around 230 million litres of beer. It is not yet known whether the supply of its products will be affected by this incident.

The company said to local publishers that it was a ransomware attack.

A ransomware attack is where hackers threaten to block or leak files unless they are paid.

Duvel’s communications manager Ellen Aarts told the Belgian newspaper Nieuwsblad that ransomware had been detected by its IT department.

Duvel was founded in 1871 by Jan-Leonard Moortgat in Antwerp, Belgium, and sells beer with an alcohol by volume (ABV) of around 8.5pc, significantly higher than many typical British ales.

The brewery made more than 230m litres of beer in 2022, according to its latest report, posting sales of (€583m) £497m. As well as its namesake beer, it brews the brands Chouffe, Vedett and Liefmans.

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