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The Coca-Cola Company confirmed on Thursday, July 16, that a ransomware attack on its fairlife dairy unit has forced it to suspend production across the United States. In a public statement and a Form 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said fairlife had identified unauthorized access to part of its systems, including its production-related systems.
Production at fairlife's US facilities is temporarily halted while Coca-Cola responds and restores the affected systems. The company said its Canadian production is not currently affected, and that product quality and safety have not been impacted. fairlife makes ultra-filtered milk, Core Power protein shakes, and other nutrition drinks sold across the country.
Coca-Cola said it activated its incident response and business continuity plans after detecting the intrusion, and brought in outside advisers and cybersecurity experts. It has also notified law enforcement. The company said the full scope and impact of the incident are not yet known, and that it has not determined whether the attack is reasonably likely to materially affect its results.
As of the disclosure, no ransomware group had claimed responsibility, BleepingComputer reported. Coca-Cola has not said whether data was stolen or whether it has received an extortion demand. When asked, a company spokesperson said there was nothing to add beyond the public statement.
The case puts a household brand on a growing list of ransomware incidents that stop physical production rather than just data flows. When attackers reach the operational technology that runs plant lines, the result is idle facilities and interrupted supply, not only breached records. Consumer goods and food producers have been repeat targets, and the fairlife shutdown shows how quickly a single intrusion can pull a national product line offline.
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