One of the top US agriculture firms has been hit by ransomware, slowing down production, as well as tractor sales, the company confirmed.
AGCO Corp confirmed it had suffered a ransomware attack, adding that operations at some of its facilities might be affected for “several days and potentially longer.”
There was no mention of any stolen data, but the company did say that its investigation was still ongoing and that the full extent of the breach is yet to be determined.
Damage to the supply chain
There are still plenty of details missing, including the name of the threat actor behind the attack, the attack vector for the initial compromise (phishing, virus, malware, or an insider threat, for example), as well as the height of the ransom demand.
What we do know, at the moment, is that as far as last Thursday, customers were unable to look up, or order, any parts for their agriculture machines.
The ransomware attack only exacerbated already sluggish procurement efforts, plagued by Covid-19’s supply chain disruptions, as well as labor strikes.
“We just have to trust that it will be over as soon as possible because we are coming into our busiest time of the year and it will be very damaging to our business and customers,” Tim Brannon, president and owner of B&G Equipment Inc in Tennessee, told Reuters.
In these past couple of years, cyberattacks are beginning to be felt in the “physical” realm, as well. The ransomware attack against Colonial Pipeline, for example, led to the shortage of gas in parts of the States, while an attack against JBS triggered a shortage of certain types of meat in Australia.
The US government and law enforcement agencies have started treating ransomware attacks as matters of national security and have since managed to shut down some of the biggest ransomware operations to date.
Via: Reuters