Dairy co-operative Agropur hit by "limited" cyberincident

Agropur says it’s the victim of a cyberincident, the impact of which was limited to a part of its shared online directory.

The incident happened in the last few days and didn’t affect transactional systems, the dairy processor said Tuesday.

“The continuity of our operations was not affected. We confirm that some of our employees and stakeholders have been affected by this incident,” said spokesperson Guillaume Bérubé in an email.

He said the affected people have been advised and that “measures have been taken to mitigate the impact of the incident and enhance data protection.”

The news of the cyberattack came last Friday from cybersecurity news website BleepingComputer.

Agropur had launched an investigation in order to evaluate the nature and scope of the incident. The company said it’s working with external cybersecurity experts and is in contact with law enforcement.

Bérubé said the cooperative is not giving further comment at this time due to the ongoing investigation.

Agropur is owned by more than 3,000 dairy farmers and is one of the 20 biggest dairy processors in the world. In 2023 its gross annual sales totalled $8.2 billion.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 2, 2024.

Frédéric Lacroix-Couture, The Canadian Press