Wind turbine maker Vestas hit by cyber attack
Danish firm says hackers managed to obtain company data and knock out parts of its IT network


The world’s biggest wind turbine manufacturer has said it was forced to shut down its IT systems due to a cyber attack over the weekend.
Danish firm Vestas announced that hackers managed to obtain company data as well as knock out parts of its internal IT infrastructure, which continue to be “shut down as a precaution”.
Following the attack on Friday, the company issued an update on Monday morning revealing it had “initiated a gradual and controlled reopening of all IT systems” as it continues to investigate the incident.
“There is no indication that the incident has impacted third party operations, including customer and supply chain operations,” the company stated, adding that its “manufacturing, construction and service teams have been able to continue operations, although several operational IT systems have been shut down as a precaution.”
Vestas, which operates in 80 countries across five continents, including the UK, US, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Australia, China, and Brazil, is the world’s biggest wind turbine manufacturer and servicer, employing approximately 25,000 people. Its partners include tech giants Lenovo and SAP, which are not thought to have been affected by the attack. IT Pro has contacted both companies for comment.
The company has not named the perpetrator of the attack, or whether the cyber attack involves ransomware.
RELATED RESOURCE
Prevent fraud and phishing attacks with DMARC
How to use domain-based message authentication, reporting, and conformance for email security
The attack follows a number of similar incidents involving US infrastructure providers including Colonial Pipeline and the Texas Power Grid, as well as UK energy giant NPower. Research conducted by cyber security firm Hornetsecurity found that the energy sector has been the leading target for cyber criminals, accounting for at least 16% of officially known attacks.
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
George Patterson, director of Oxford-based cyber security recruitment specialist Arrowforth, told IT Pro last month that the rise of this type of cyber attack could be attributed to the energy sector being “seen as a rather unethical industry to younger generations (most cyber hackers are young)”.
“Cynically, they know they have money and are likely to pay out to continue operations,” he added.
For example, Colonial Pipeline reportedly paid a $5 million ransom to Darkside, a Russian based cyber gang, to quickly restore fuel supplies to the US East Coast.
Having only graduated from City University in 2019, Sabina has already demonstrated her abilities as a keen writer and effective journalist. Currently a content writer for Drapers, Sabina spent a number of years writing for ITPro, specialising in networking and telecommunications, as well as charting the efforts of technology companies to improve their inclusion and diversity strategies, a topic close to her heart.
Sabina has also held a number of editorial roles at Harper's Bazaar, Cube Collective, and HighClouds.
-
Windows 10: Six essential steps IT teams should take over the next two months
Industry Insights With Windows 10 support ending soon, IT leaders must act now to mitigate risk
-
New chapter, same partners: Keeping the channel aligned with change
Industry Insights How to maintain strong channel partnerships amid evolving strategies and market change
-
The Scattered Spider ransomware group is infiltrating Slack and Microsoft Teams to target vulnerable employees
News The group is using new ransomware variants and new social engineering techniques - including sneaking into corporate teleconferences
-
Hackers breached a 158 year old company by guessing an employee password – experts say it’s a ‘pertinent reminder’ of the devastating impact of cyber crime
News A Panorama documentary exposed hackers' techniques and talked to the teams trying to tackle them
-
The ransomware boom shows no signs of letting up – and these groups are causing the most chaos
News Thousands of ransomware cases have already been posted on the dark web this year
-
Everything we know about the Ingram Micro cyber attack so far
News A cyber attack on Ingram Micro severely disrupted operations and has been claimed by the SafePay ransomware group.
-
A prolific ransomware group says it’s shutting down and giving out free decryption keys to victims – but cyber experts warn it's not exactly a 'gesture of goodwill'
News The Hunters International ransomware group is rebranding and switching tactics
-
Swiss government data published following supply chain attack – here’s what we know about the culprits
News Radix, a non-profit organization in the health promotion sector, supplies a number of federal offices, whose data has apparently been accessed.
-
Ransomware victims are getting better at haggling with hackers
News While nearly half of companies paid a ransom to get their data back last year, victims are taking an increasingly hard line with hackers to strike fair deals.
-
LockBit data dump reveals a treasure trove of intel on the notorious hacker group
News An analysis of May's SQL database dump shows how much LockBit was really making