Waterloo Brewing Identifies Cyberattack
KITCHENER, ON, Nov. 21, 2019 /CNW/ - Waterloo Brewing Ltd. (TSX: WBR) ("Waterloo Brewing" or the "Company") today announced that it has been subject to a social engineering cyberattack by a sophisticated third party that resulted in a wire transfer of the Company's funds to a fraudulent third party account. The incident occurred in early November and involved creditor employee impersonation and fraudulent wire transfer requests by such third party from the Company.
Upon becoming aware of the incident this week, the Company initiated an analysis of all other transaction activity across all bank accounts of the Company, as well as a review of its internal systems and controls, including its computer networks. The Company has engaged its third-party IT services provider to conduct an independent investigation of the Company's systems and is working with its auditors and bank to ensure that appropriate steps have been taken to mitigate the chance of any future occurrences of similar cyberattacks. At this time, the Company does not believe that its systems were breached or that any personal information of its customers is at risk.
The Company has notified the appropriate authorities including local police services, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and the United States' Finance Crimes and Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The Company is working with authorities in furtherance of their investigations as applicable.
To date, the Company has not recovered any of the approximately CDN$2.1 million wired to the fraudulent third-party account. While the Company is actively taking measures to recover the funds, there can be no assurance that such measures will result in the return of all or a portion of the misappropriated funds in a timely manner or at all.
The Company does not expect this incident to have a material impact on its business going forward or otherwise impact its near-term liquidity requirements or its ongoing operations.
About Waterloo Brewing
Waterloo Brewing is Ontario's largest Canadian-owned brewery. The Company is a regional brewer of award-winning premium qualify and value beers and is officially certificated under the Global Food Safety Standard, one of the highest and most internationally recognized standards for safe food production. Founded in 1984 as Brick Brewing Co., the company was the first craft brewery to start up in Ontario and is credited with pioneering the present-day craft brewing renaissance in Canada. Waterloo Brewing has complemented its Waterloo premium craft beers with the popular Laker brand. In 2011, Waterloo Brewing purchased the Canadian rights to Seagram Coolers and in 2015, secured the exclusive Canadian rights to both Land Shark and Margaritaville. In addition, Waterloo Brewing utilizes its leading-edge brewing, blending and packaging capabilities to provide an extensive array of contract manufacturing services in beer, coolers, and ciders. Waterloo Brewing trades on the TSX under the symbol WBR. Visit us at www.waterloobrewing.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively referred to herein as "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements can be identified by the expressions "seeks", "expects", "believes", "estimates", "will", "target" and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements herein are not historical facts, but reflect the current expectations of management of the Company regarding future results or events and are based on information currently available to them. Certain material factors and assumptions were applied in providing these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements discussed in this release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company's future outlook and anticipated events or results, the results of the internal and external investigations regarding the unlawful transactions, the recovery of funds, if at all, the effectiveness of the Company's financial controls, the impact of the unlawful transactions on the Company's business and financial position, and other statements that are not historical facts. All forward-looking statements in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable based on upon the information available at the time such information was given; however, the Company can give no assurance that the actual results or developments will be realized by certain specified dates or at all. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations, including the matters discussed under "Risks Factors" in the most recently filed annual information form and management discussion and analysis for the Company. Readers, therefore, should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Further, a forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any such statement or to reflect new information or the occurrence of future events or circumstances except as required by securities laws. The forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date of this press release.
SOURCE Waterloo Brewing Ltd.
George Croft, President & CEO, (519) 498-9908, E-mail: [email protected]
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