Chicago, USA – Beverage giant Coca-Cola has temporarily suspended production at its Fairlife dairy business in the United States after the subsidiary was hit by a ransomware attack that disrupted its production systems.
The company disclosed the incident in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), confirming that the cyberattack impacted Fairlife’s operational technology, forcing a temporary shutdown of production across its U.S. facilities.
Coca-Cola said the suspension will remain in effect while the company works to contain the incident, restore affected systems, and safely resume operations. However, it did not provide a timeline for when production is expected to restart.
Fairlife, headquartered in Chicago, is one of Coca-Cola’s fastest-growing dairy brands, generating an estimated $4 billion in sales by 2024. The company is known for its ultra-filtered milk, protein shakes, and other dairy-based beverages sold across the United States.
Although Coca-Cola has not disclosed the identity of the ransomware group behind the attack or whether customer or employee data was compromised, the incident highlights the growing threat ransomware poses to critical manufacturing and food production industries.
Cybercriminals have increasingly targeted operational technology (OT) environments in recent years, recognizing that disruptions to manufacturing and supply chains place enormous pressure on organizations to quickly restore services. Such attacks can result in production downtime, financial losses, and supply chain disruptions.
Coca-Cola stated that it is actively investigating the incident with the assistance of cybersecurity experts and is implementing measures to restore affected systems while minimizing operational impacts.
The attack adds Fairlife to a growing list of major food and beverage manufacturers that have suffered ransomware incidents, underscoring the need for stronger cybersecurity resilience across industrial and manufacturing sectors.
As investigations continue, industry observers will be closely watching how quickly Fairlife can recover its operations and whether the attack will have any impact on product availability in the U.S. market.
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