An unusual demand was issued to a Ugandan beer manufacturer whose website was hacked on Tuesday.
Threat actors targeting Nile Breweries Limited removed the contents from the organization's website nilebreweries.com before demanding that a secret beer recipe stored on the brewery's servers be put into production.
To persuade the brewery to comply with their demands, the unidentified cyber-criminals threatened to expose the classified recipe to the public.
Visitors to the brewery's homepage were confronted with looped video footage of an unidentifiable assailant dressed in a black hoodie. The video depicts the threat actor vocalizing the following curious missive in an electronically disguised voice:
"This is a message to Nile Breweries. I have gone through your servers and discovered that you have been sitting on a beer formula. So, here is my demand. Produce this beer immediately, or the formula goes public. You have 24 hours."
According to the website TechJaja, some digital pundits have speculated that the hack was a creative marketing ploy by Nile Breweries. The company, which is best known for making Eagle Lager, Club Beer, and Nile Special beers, is reported to be on the cusp of releasing a new tipple.
However, The EastAfrican states that Nile Breweries has confirmed that the hack was indeed real. According to the newspaper's website, Nile Breweries Limited said yesterday that it "is taking swift action to regain control over its website."
The newspaper reports that Nile Breweries' legal and corporate affairs manager, Mr. Onapito Ekomoloit, confirmed the hack on the company's website in a statement released on Tuesday and said that they were taking the matter very seriously.
Ekomoloit said: "We have seen the video circulating on our website this morning at our Head Office in Luzira, Kampala. We are taking this matter very seriously and are moving quickly to establish the details.
"We have mobilised a response team and will provide further updates as soon as the information we receive can be verified."
Following the hack, leaders of the brewery were reported to have held a crisis meeting in the company's offices in Kampala.
Nile Breweries is Uganda's largest beer manufacturer. The company was founded in 1951 and had an estimated 52% share of the Ugandan beer market in 2013.