Stoli Vodka: Bankrupt After Ransomware Attack – Source: securityboulevard.com

Smells like Russia is responsible, but reality is a bit more  complicated.

Stoli Group USA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week. But now its leaders have come out swinging: They’re blaming ransomware hackers and the Russian regime.

There seems to be an unspoken assumption the hackers were Russian-state sponsored. In today’s SB  Blogwatch, we wonder what Patsy Stone would have thought, darling.

Your humble blog­watcher curated these bloggy bits for your enter­tain­ment. Not to mention:  Song Society.

Absolutely Un-Fabulous

What’s the craic? Lisa Fickenscher reports: Stoli Vodka files for bankruptcy after cyberattack, legal feud with Russia

“Ukraine invasion”
The Stoli Group USA filed for Chapter 11 in US Bankruptcy Court … after a “malicious cyber-attack” forced the company to operate its global business manually “while the systems are rebuilt,” chief executive Chris Caldwell said in a statement. … Caldwell also cited ongoing legal battles with Russia.
…
Russian-born and exiled billionaire Yuri Shefler … has been exiled since 2002 because of his opposition to President Vladimir Putin. After the Ukraine invasion in March 2022 Shefler changed the name of the company to Stoli from Stolichnaya.

How did the attack go down? Sergiu Gatlan adds color: Stoli files for bankruptcy in US after ransomware attack

“Extremists”
This comes after the August attack severely disrupted its IT systems, including its enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform. The cyberattack also forced manual operations across the group, affecting key processes such as accounting, with full recovery not expected until early 2025.
…
Caldwell added that the incident also prevented the Stoli U.S. subsidiaries from providing financial reports to lenders who claimed the two companies had defaulted on a $78 million debt. … In July 2024, two distilleries valued at $100 million—the group’s last remaining assets in Russia—were also confiscated in connection with the designation of the Stoli Group and its founder, Yuri Shefler, as “extremists.”

Stoli? Stolichnaya? Potato/pohtahtoh. Jordan Valinsky bridges the gap: Stoli vodka files for bankruptcy

“Battle with the Russia government”
Until 2022, Stoli was sold as Stolichnaya in the United States, which loosely translates to “capital city” in Russian. The company shortened its title following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and boycotts against Russian-branded vodkas. … The liquor has long been marketed as a Russian vodka, but its production facilities have been in Latvia for several decades. Stoli Group is a unit of Luxembourg-based SPI Group, which owns other spirit and wine brands.
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Its ongoing legal battle with the Russia government has forced Stoli to “spend dozens of millions of dollars on this long-term court battle across the globe with the Russian authorities,” according to its court filing.

A cyberattack and a Russian grudge? Are you pondering what KayJ’s pondering?

Truly the world is full of eejits, and coincidence is possible. But it doesn’t strike me that “mystery ransomware attack” and “Putin’s grudge against them” are separate things—given the little *****’s sponsorship and tolerance of all manner of cybergoonery.

“Cybergoonery” might be my new favorite compound neologism. TIL another weird phrase, via u/DavidS1983:

Do we need to panic buy like a bunch of bourbon taters now? Gonna buy a bottle of Elit tonight for some NYE caviar.

But back to the ransomware angle? Gravis Zero interprets the situation:

Ransomware attacks are merely a symptom of poor decision-making. If you’re filing for bankruptcy then it’s clear that not investing in good security or a solid [disaster recovery plan] was merely one of the many poor decisions that the executives made.

But Stoli had a good product, right? Right? Wrong, says tekHedd:

Have you tried Stoli lately? … Sometimes you fail because you fail.
…
It couldn’t be, say, that their product is now incredibly meh? Cause I bought a bottle this summer, and I don’t know if it’s worthy of being called “midrange” vodka.

Or could we blame it on poor marketing? Here’s u/Appropriate_Cat8100:

They rebranded themselves after Russia invaded Ukraine. They went from Stolichnaya to Stoli and got rid of the art deco USSR packaging style. This was an attempt to ensure American consumers the brand was not tied to Russia (it’s made in Latvia). Stoli lost all brand recognition after this re-branding.

Meanwhile, this Anonymous Coward cuts to the chase:

It’s not like ransomware’s the only reason to have backups.

And Finally:

Cullum resurrects this great idea: Learn a song in under 60 minutes [He knows the rules and so do I—Ed.]

Previously in And Finally

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