Belgian village whose brewery was hit by cyberattack faces another on its coffee roastery

The Belgian village of Breendonk — home to Duvel Moortgat Brewery, which was hit by a cyberattack last week — is now facing a second incident affecting local coffee roasters Koffie Beyers.

The impact of the incident affecting Beyers is not yet clear. Police have confirmed that an investigation is underway and that specialists from a computer crime unit attended the scene.

Although cyberattacks are relatively common, the temporal and geographic proximity of the Duval and Beyers incidents is unusual — the companies were hit around the same time and are based less than a mile apart in the municipality of Puurs-Sint-Amands.

Both are far more than merely local companies. Beyers is the largest coffee roaster in Belgium, and employs more than 200 people in five different countries. In addition to the facility near Breendonk, it has another production plant in Italy.

The company did not respond to a request for comment about whether its other facilities have been impacted by the incident.

Duval is an international exporter of beer. A spokesperson confirmed “production is at a standstill at all our Belgian sites and at our site in the United States,” as a result of the attack.

She added: “We are confident that we will be able to restart production soon. In the meantime, there is enough stock, so Duvel drinkers don’t have to worry.”

Police say the incidents are being investigated under separate files, although the files will be compared for similarities.