Gang claims responsibility for hack at Coca-Cola’s fairlife unit

By Raphael Satter

WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) – Hacking gang Anubis claimed credit on Tuesday for an attack on Coca-Cola-owned dairy company fairlife, threatening to publish stolen data unless it received an unspecified ransom.

The group made the claim on its dark web site, saying it had stolen 1 terabyte of data from fairlife.

Coca-Cola did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the hackers did not immediately return a message. 

Chicago-based fairlife makes dairy products including protein shakes and filtered milk drinks. Coca-Cola said last week that production at fairlife’s U.S. facilities was temporarily suspended after a hack.

Anubis is one of many cybercriminal gangs that paralyze their victims’ networks until a ransom is paid, a practice that can occasionally have dramatic knock-on effects if critical networks are hit. Hackers typically threaten to publish stolen data in a bid to pressure their victims. 

Anubis’ operations have a particularly disruptive edge to them, according to an analysis published last year by cybersecurity firm Trend Micro, which cited the group’s use of file wiping software.

(Reporting by Raphael Satter; Additional reporting by Koyena Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)