Coca-Cola confirms cyberattack as Fairlife operations halted

London, UK - January 17, 2015: glass bottles of Coca Cola for sale inside a wooden barrel at Borough Market, London, UK. Borough Market is a wholesale and retail food market in Southwark, Central London, England. It is one of the largest and oldest food markets in London, and sells a large variety of foods from all over the world. Colour image with lots of room for copy space.
Coca-Cola confirms cyberattack as Fairlife operations halted. (Image: Getty Images/Coldsnowstorm)

Coca-Cola confirms ransomware attack on dairy subsidiary Fairlife


Coca-Cola cyberattack: overview

  • Coca-Cola confirms ransomware attack affecting Fairlife production systems
  • Unauthorised third-party access disrupted Fairlife’s United States operations
  • Fairlife production remains suspended while investigations into impacts continue
  • Coca-Cola says product quality and safety not compromised
  • Attack reflects rising cyber risks across food manufacturing supply chains

The Coca-Cola Company has confirmed it’s been hit by a serious cyberattack.

Fairlife, LLC, a subsidiary of the beverage giant, was hit by a ransomware attack, according to a statement issued Friday.

The multinational identified “unauthorised access by a third party to a portion of its systems”. The affected systems included production operations.

After detecting the issue, the company said it “activated its incident response and business continuity protocols”.

Investigations into the impact of the attack remain ongoing, but Coca-Cola says “product quality and safety” have not been compromised.

The company has not disclosed whether any customer, employee or supplier data was accessed during the attack.

As a result of the incident, production operations at Fairlife in the United States are temporarily suspended. Canadian production operations are “not currently” impacted.

Fairlife makes a variety of lactose-free, ultra-filtered dairy products.

The company has not said how long the disruption is expected to last or whether customer shipments will be affected.

Coca-Cola has not identified the group responsible for the ransomware attack, and no attribution has been made publicly.

The company has notified law enforcement and is being assisted by “outside advisors and cybersecurity experts”.

Growing cyber threat

The attack comes as ransomware gangs increasingly target food and beverage manufacturers, disrupting production and exposing the sector’s dependence on around-the-clock operations and tightly managed supply chains.

Coca-Cola joins a growing number of food and beverage companies hit by cybercriminals, including JBS, Dole, and Campbell’s Soup.