Belgium craft beer lovers are bracing themselves for a potential shortage of their favourite tipple after production at four breweries owned by the Duvel Moortgat brewery group has ground to a halt after a cyber-attack.
The company, which produces Duvel, La Chouffe, Vedett and Liefmans, is the latest victim of a growing spate of global ransomware attacks, which in the UK alone has seen the average demand risen to £330,000, according to a recent report by Cybereason.
Nearly half (46%) of ransomware victims estimate business losses to be between $1m and $10m as a result of an attack, with 16% reporting losses of over $10m.
Duvel Moortgat said it was currently unable to give further details as the investigation into the cause of the cyber-attack is ongoing.
In a statement, the company said: “The built-in command systems and alarms in the IT-system worked well, so our IT department was immediately informed of the attack.
“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 Moortgat 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.
The Flemish family-controlled brewery was founded in 1871 in Antwerp Province, Belgium. Duvel, is exported to more than 40 countries. The Duvel name is said to be Brabantian, Ghent and Antwerp dialect for devil.
It is claimed that the yeast used in the brewing process still stems from an original culture of Scottish yeast bought during a business tour of the UK just after World War I.
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