NB Liquor shut down point of sale systems after suspected cyberattack

Alcool NB Liquor, the New Brunswick Crown corporation responsible for alcohol and cannabis retailing in the province, took its systems offline late on January 7, 2025 after security controls flagged anomalies in its payment environment. Corporate stores closed the following day and reopened on a cash only basis, as did Cannabis NB locations.

Chief executive Lori Stickles said the corporation's security controls had identified suspicious activity and that "we made a decision to take down our systems." Card processing stayed unavailable far longer than expected. A week after the shutdown, the corporation said it still could not accept debit, credit or gift cards and that full recovery would run into the following week.

Debit and credit transactions resumed around January 20, after close to two weeks of cash only trading. Spokesperson Florence Gouton said the corporation had not been hit by ransomware and that there was no impact on customers' personal information.

NB Liquor released few technical details about what happened. It brought in external experts to investigate and said work to fully resume normal business activity was continuing behind the scenes. Throughout the disruption customers could still buy alcohol at ANBL agency stores and at grocery retailers licensed to sell it.