A ransomware attack has been detected in the systems of Aebi Sschmidt, one of the largest manufacturing companies in Europe and that has presence in the United States, reported cyber forensics course specialists.
The Swiss company, dedicated to the manufacture
of airport and highway maintenance vehicles, had to interrupt its operations
following the cyber security incident, reports a source close to the
manufacturer.
The company’s systems collapsed throughout its
entire international network, including branches in the United States, although
cyber forensics course specialists claim that the most severe damage was
presented at its headquarters in Europe. Individuals close to the incident
claim that the company’s email server also suffered severe affectations.
Additional details about the attack are still
unknown, such as the ransomware variant used against the company.
A couple of days after the incident were
revealed, a company spokesman posted a message via social media mentioning that
“some of the systems were interrupted due to a security incident”,
mainly generating server corporate email fails. The message confirms that other
systems suffered or still suffer some damage; although the spokesman no longer
added details. “Cyber forensics course experts are working to restore our
entire environment, but this will take a little longer”, the message
concluded.
The source that revealed the information
ensures that, although the company has not publicly acknowledged that this is a
ransomware attack, this was confirmed to employees in some strategic areas of
the company. In addition, the source mentions that many of the company’s
systems still do not operate.
This incident adds to a long chain of attacks
by ransomware
against large companies recently occurred. A few weeks ago, experts from the
International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) reported a ransomware
infection in the systems of Norsk
Hydro, one of the largest aluminum production companies in the world.
The attack cost about $40M USD in losses for the company; in the case of Aebi
Sschmidt, the financial damage that the incident will generate is still
unknown.
