Cyberattacks the latest nasty surprise for shareholders

Toronto

COSTLY cyberattacks are having a bigger impact on corporate earnings and are becoming a fact of life for companies as Oreo cookie maker Mondelez, drug maker Merck and others said that a destructive "worm" attack in the last week of the second quarter disrupted operations.

Mondelez International Inc, the world's second-largest confectionary company, reported a 5 per cent drop in quarterly sales on Wednesday, blaming shipping and invoicing delays caused by the June 27 attack of the worm, known as NotPetya.