Fairlife dairy operations in Arizona, Michigan and New York suspended due to cyberattack

Fairlife milk operations have been paused due to a cyberattack, parent company Coca-Cola has said. The beverage company announced in a July 16 press release that an unauthorized third-party user gained access to the company's milk production systems in what the company believes to be a ransomware event. While it is unclear when the breach occurred, as soon as it was detected, the company began investigating the incident using cybersecurity experts while also notifying law enforcement.

The company insists that the safety of the product has not been impacted. "Product quality and safety have not been impacted," they said. "However, as a result of the incident, production operations at fairlife in the United States were temporarily suspended. Fairlife's Canada production operations are not currently impacted."

The company is working diligently to complete the investigation and restore the systems and impacted operations. Fairlife's US production facilities are located in Arizona, Michigan, and New York.

Coca-Cola has not provided the full scope or the financial impact of the attack; they also have not said what demands the hackers made upon breaching their systems.

Coca-Cola purchased Fairlife in 2020 for about $7 billion; it sits amongst the company’s 200 brands across areas including soda, coffee, tea, water, juices, and alcohol.

The attack follows a string of cyber incidents affecting major companies. Earlier this year, food distributor United Natural Foods was hit by a cyberattack that disrupted grocery deliveries to retailers across North America, resulting in up to a $400 million loss in sales, Cyber Scoop reports. Cybercriminals have also targeted retailers and manufacturers in recent years, underscoring the growing threat ransomware poses to critical supply chains.