Sweden’s liquor supply severely impacted by ransomware attack on logistics company

A ransomware attack on a Swedish logistics company Skanlog severely impacted the country’s liquor supply. 

Skanlog, a critical distributor for Systembolaget, the Swedish government-owned retail chain suffered a ransomware attack. Systembolaget has a monopoly on the sale of alcoholic beverages containing more than 3.5% alcohol by volume. It operates stores across Sweden and is responsible for the retail sale of wine, spirits, and strong beer.

“It affects about 15% of our sales volume. Wine and liquor most of all,” Sofia Sjöman Waas, a press officer at Systembolaget, told Euronews Next. “We are accustomed to handling small to large scales of disruptions even though they are rarely on this scale,” Waas added. “We have many other items delivered to us as usual via other distributors. Therefore, there will continuously be many alternatives available at our stores,”

Mona Zuko, Skanlog’s chief executive, attributed the cyber attack to a North Korean ransomware gang.

“We have been centrally attacked by a cyber attack, which has caused our entire system to be down until we can fix it and get it back up,” Skanlog’s Swedish CEO Mona Zuko told local newspaper Dagens Industri.

“Our systems, including our central business system, have been affected by the attack. We use a Microsoft financial system, and an inventory system called Dynaman which is critical to our operations.”

Due to the cyber attack’s impact on the logistics company, the media reported it may be difficult to get hold of alcoholic beverages this weekend. Skanlog spokesman warned that certain alcoholic beverages could be sold out within a few days.

SCMagazine reported that Systembolaget, in response to Skanlog’s uncertainty about restoring its operations, plans to implement a backup procedure to address potential delays in deliveries. This decision comes as a precautionary measure to ensure continuity in the distribution of alcoholic beverages.

Pierluigi Paganini

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(SecurityAffairs – hacking, ransomware)