Happy Friday my friend,
Before I tell you about the beer panic, let me personally invite you to come see us present at the Hawaii Hotel & Restaurant Show at the Blaisdell, next week Wednesday the 20th at 11:30am. If you've never been, it's a great show, here's an article in the Advertiser about it.
Topic: How Cyber Secure Are You? Find out how cyber criminals are currently disrupting local businesses by stealing money, data and scamming customers. Learn clever and simple ways to keep it from happening to your business. Includes entertaining and informative stories and lock picking demonstrations.
Yes, lock picking! Brittnie, the newest member of the team and champion lock picker will be showing us how easy lock picking can be. It's free and there's usually lots of food samples.
An now, back to beer. Last week, operations at four breweries owned by the Belgian beer company Duvel, which are situated across Europe and the US, came to a standstill following a cyber-attack.
Duvel is a Belgian beer brand best known for its strong and fruity golden pale ale bearing the same name. The brewery also makes other popular abbey beers such as Vedett, Maredsous, and La Chouffe that are enjoyed around the world.
Beer enthusiasts on Reddit responded to the incident with humor, calling the situation a "national emergency" and asking for the actual number of "strategic reserves."
The Takeaway
While ransomware attacks often aim at data theft for extortion, the primary consequence in Duvel's situation is the interruption of its brewing operations.
It's a good reminder that security, even at a beer factory is only effective in layers. Much like painting a wall, the cracks show through with only a single layer of paint - it can take several coats for nice finish.
Security is made up of 2 parts: a technology layer and a behavioral layer. To minimize the chance of business interruption, not only is it a good idea to invest in the right technology, but in training your people as well with a structured cybersecurity training program.
Interested? We'll be talking about this at next Wednesday's event. Come on down and say hi. See you there!
-Attila
PS. If you think this email might be of value to a friend or colleague, feel free to forward it along.
PPS. I get lots of eye rolls on these Friday funnies. Do you have a good one to share? If so, reply and send it on over!
New Friday Funnies
What do you never say to a police officer?
“Sure let me grab my license. Can you hold my beer?”