Health drink brand hit by cyber attack

A popular probiotic drink brand has confirmed it has fallen victim to a cyber attack that reportedly led to 95GBs of data being leaked onto the dark web.

The alleged hackers appear to be linked to DragonLeaks and have claim to have obtained Yakult’s company database, contracts and passports among other documents.

While Yakult Australia director David Whatley did not confirm what data had been taken, he said he was made aware on Christmas Day that the cybercriminals had begun publishing some of the data they claimed to have taken on their “dark web forum”.

A statement from the company confirmed the “cyber incident” had affected IT systems across Australia and New Zealand and added their offices were still open and remained in operation.

“We are working with our ​cyber incident experts and relevant authorities to investigate the extent of the incident,” it said.

“We are currently investigating which data and systems may have been impacted.”

Yakult also confirmed it had notified the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the New Zealand National Cyber Security Centre, the office of the Australian Information Commission and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, New Zealand, and said investigations were ongoing.

“Further updates will be provided as information becomes available,” Mr Whatley said.

Originating from Japan, the popular drink was first launched in Australia in 1994 before being introduced in New Zealand in 2004.