Portland brewery and hotel chain McMenamins fell victim to a Conti ransomware attack over the weekend, causing their operations to be disrupted .
See also: Conti ransomware: $25.5 million in profits since July
McMenamins is a popular chain of restaurants, pubs, breweries, and hotels in Oregon and Washington.
The ransomware attack occurred over the weekend of December 12, with sources saying the Conti gang is behind it.
Servers and workstations were encrypted as part of the attack, including point-of-sale systems.
While the attack did not cause any locations to close, McMenamins was forced to shut down its IT systems, credit card point-of-sale systems and corporate email to prevent the attack from spreading further.
See also: Nordic Choice hotels hit by Conti ransomware
The company issued a statement later that evening, confirming that it was hit by ransomware and is working with the FBI and a third-party cybersecurity firm to investigate the attack.
With credit card scanners down, McMenamins is being forced to change its checkout process at some locations. Unfortunately, these changes also prevent customers from purchasing or redeeming gift cards.
Corporate data and documents appear to have been stolen during the attack, but it is unknown whether customer data was included. McMenamins says its initial investigation does not indicate that any customer information was compromised as it was being managed, collected and stored by a third-party payment processor.
See also: Coombe Hospital hit by ransomware attack
However, since the hackers likely had access to the corporate network for some time, it is possible that they installed malware at the points of sale to steal credit cards, as has been done in previous ransomware attacks. Whether this happened will not be known until the investigations and the third-party cybersecurity firm are complete.
