Russian Alcohol Giant Novabev Group Discloses Ransomware Incident

Ransomware actors have breached a subsidiary of Russian alcohol company Novabev Group, affecting its business operations.

“Novabev Group pays great attention to cybersecurity, regularly improving the protection of its infrastructure: from daily monitoring and eliminating vulnerabilities to employee training,” the company says in a note on its press room page. “Thanks to this, the company has managed to repel previous attacks.”

“However, on July 14, the group was subjected to an unprecedented cyberattack – a large-scale and coordinated action carried out by hackers,” the group says.

Services temporarily disrupted

The hackers’ target was Novabev’s VinLab branch, which succumbed to a malware attack involving ransomware – where cybercriminals encrypt and steal internal data for extortion purposes.

“As a result of the incident, the functionality of part of the IT infrastructure was temporarily disrupted, which affected the availability of some services and tools of the group and the VinLab network,” according to the parent company.

“The attackers contacted and demanded a monetary reward.The comp any adheres to a principled position of rejecting any form of interaction with cybercriminals and categorically refuses to comply with their demands,” reads an English-translated version of the notice (originally in Russian).

Local media reports say VinLab closed its stores on the day of the incident, halting orders at points of sale and pickups from parcel lockers.

Every effort is being made to restore operations

The group’s IT people, along with a group of external experts, are “working around the clock” to investigate the incident and restore normal operations.

“Every effort is being made to resume work as soon as possible,” Novabev pledges.

“Based on available information, no personal data of clients was affected,” the notice says. It added that “the investigation is ongoing,” indicating that it may yet find customer data has been compromised – as is typically the case in most ransomware attacks.

“Cybercrime is becoming more aggressive. We will learn lessons and strengthen our defenses to minimize the risk of similar attacks in the future,” Novabev adds. “We apologize to our customers and partners for the inconvenience caused and thank you for your support and understanding.”

What to do if your data is caught up in a breach

If you are a VinLab (Novabev) customer, past or present, monitor the company’s press room to stay informed about system restorations and further recommendations (if it turns out your data has been caught up in this incident.)

Watch out for suspicious emails or calls. Standard cybersecurity advice is to verify sender identities and refrain from clicking unexpected links.

Anyone affected by a data breach should consider a data monitoring service. Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection lets you know if your data has been compromised or leaked online, what risks you face, and how to protect yourself.

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