Ransomware Attack Paralyzes Duvel Brewery Operations
- Written by Shipra Sanganeria Cybersecurity & Tech Writer
- Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Former Lead Cybersecurity Editor
On March 5, Belgium’s Duvel Moortgat Brewery suffered a ransomware attack which adversely impacted its production facility, bringing it to a standstill.
“At 1:30 a.m. last night, the alarms went off in Duvel’s IT department because ransomware had been detected,” Duvel’s communications manager Ellen Aarts told the Belgian news publication Nieuwsblad .
“Therefore, production was immediately stopped. It is not yet known when it could restart. We hope to restart today or tomorrow,’’ Aarts continued.
Aarts reassured customers that distribution would not be affected and Duvel’s availability will not change.
“We have more than enough beer in stock to cover this production stop” Aarts said.
However, the press statement did not reveal if or any impact was suffered by the brand’s subsidiaries in Antwerp, Oudenaarde, and Achouffe.
At the time of writing, the attack has been claimed by the ransomware group Stormous. On March 7, a day after the attack, on its dark web page, the Belgian brewer was added to the gang’s list of victims.
Belgium-based Duvel Moortgat is also well-known for other popular beers like Vedett, Maredsous, and La Chouffe.
The pro-Russia Stormous group is believed to have begun operations as early as mid-2021. According to Trustwave SpiderLabs , the group claims to have attacked 700 US websites and 44 American companies, including Coca-Cola, Mattel, Epic Games, and Danaher.
The ransomware gang in its mission statement reveals the US, Ukraine, India, and other western nation governments and private organizations as its targets. However, in January 2024, the gang breached Indonesian state-owned railway company Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) and published a sample of stolen data on the dark web.
In August 2023, Stormous formed a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) partnership with five other hacker groups, collectively known as “The Five Families”. Jointly the groups are known to deploy double extortion ransomware attacks on various business entities in multiple countries, including Cuba, India, Thailand, and China among others.
American Express Warns Customers of Third-Party Data Breach
- Written by Shipra Sanganeria Cybersecurity & Tech Writer
- Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Former Lead Cybersecurity Editor
American Express (Amex) alerted customers that a third-party data breach incident may have compromised their credit card details.
The hacking incident of a merchant processor was explained in a notification letter sent to impacted customers. Submitted under the name, “American Express Travel Related Services Company,” a copy of the letter was also filed with the State of Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation (OCABR).
“We became aware that a third-party service provider engaged by numerous merchants experienced unauthorized access to its system. [..] It is important to note that American Express owned or controlled systems were not compromised by this incident,’’ the notification letter explained.
According to the details shared by the company, card account information of some of the members was exposed, including current or previously issued Amex card account numbers, customer names, and other card details, like expiration date.
It also notified customers about receiving additional Amex issued letters if more than one of their accounts were hacked.
It is currently still unclear about the number of customers impacted by the incident and which merchant processor was hacked.
‘’Please be assured we are vigilantly monitoring your account for fraud and, if it should occur, you are not liable for fraudulent charges on your account,’’ the company reassured impacted customers.
It also advised customers to review their Amex account statements over the next 12 to 24 months for any sign of fraudulent activity. Impacted customers were also advised to enable instant notifications in the Amex Mobile app, to receive alerts of suspected fraudulent transactions.
Over the past several weeks (January & February 2024), American Express has reported several third-party breaches, involving exposure of credit or debit card details to the State of Massachusetts’ OCABR. The 2024 State of Massachusetts’ Data Breach Notification Report revealed.
