IoT solutions provider Sierra Wireless has been forced to halt production at its manufacturing site after being hit by a ransomware attack.
The attack took place on 20 March, and was discovered by the company three days later. Despite an immediate response from the Sierra Wireless' IT and operations teams, hackers managed to bring down its internal IT systems, disrupting the Sierra Wireless website and the internal operations of the company.
It also prompted the company to withdraw its Q1 2021 guidance, which was published on 23 February 2021 and provided information on the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 results. According to an error message, the website which contained the guidance is now “under maintenance”.
How safe is the IoT? Hackers auction stolen CD Projekt data with ‘charity fundraiser' The top 12 password-cracking techniques used by hackers
Sierra Wireless announced that it has “implemented measures to counter the attack in accordance with established cyber security procedures and policies that were developed in collaboration with third-party advisors”.
Although Sierra Wireless’ customer-facing products and services are thought to have come out fo the attack unscathed, the company has asked its customers and partners for patience “as it seeks to remediate the situation”.
The ransomware attack has also forced the company to halt production at its manufacturing sites but is hoping to resume normal operations “soon”. Although headquartered in British Columbia, Canada, Sierra Wireless maintains multiple offices and operations around the globe, including the US, Brazil, Germany, Sweden, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, France, and Hong Kong.
The amount of the ransom and the identity of the attackers is unknown at this time. IT Pro has reached out to Sierra Wireless for more information about the attack but has yet to hear back from the company.
The incident comes just days after ransomware collective REvil demanded $50 million (£36 million) from Acer, in what is thought to be the gang's most costly attack yet. The Taiwanese PC manufacturer has been given until March 28 to send over funds before any stolen data is leaked.
The Acer ransomware attack is believed to be linked to the Microsoft Exchange hack from earlier this month, which was orchestrated by 'at least ten hacker groups' and affected ‘hundreds of thousands’ of victims, including in the UK.
-
Snowflake revamps channel program to meet rising data and AI demandNews The new-look Snowflake Partner Network (SPN) now includes new training resources, improved structures geared towards growth, as well as increased channel networking opportunities.
-
Jaguar Land Rover u-turns on cyber attack containment claimsNews Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has admitted some data may have been accessed by hackers following a cyber attack which severely disrupted production.
-
Prolific ransomware operator added to Europe’s Most Wanted list as US dangles $10 million rewardNews The US Department of Justice is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of Volodymyr Viktorovych Tymoshchuk, an alleged ransomware criminal.
-
Jaguar Land Rover “did the right thing” shutting down systems to thwart cyber attackNews The attack on Jaguar Land Rover highlights the growing attractiveness of the automotive sector
-
Ransomware attack on IT supplier disrupts hundreds of Swedish municipalitiesNews The attack on IT systems supplier Miljödata has impacted public sector services across the country
-
A notorious hacker group is ramping up cloud-based ransomware attacksNews The Storm-0501 threat group is refining its tactics, according to Microsoft, shifting away from traditional endpoint-based attacks and toward cloud-based ransomware.
-
Security researchers have just identified what could be the first ‘AI-powered’ ransomware strain – and it uses OpenAI’s gpt-oss-20b modelNews Using OpenAI's gpt-oss:20b model, ‘PromptLock’ generates malicious Lua scripts via the Ollama API.
-
Data I/O shuts down systems in wake of ransomware attack
News Regulatory filings by Data I/O suggest the costs of dealing with the attack could be significant
-
Average ransom payment doubles in a single quarterNews Targeted social engineering and data exfiltration have become the biggest tactics as three major ransomware groups dominate
-
BlackSuit ransomware gang taken down in latest law enforcement sting – but members have already formed a new groupNews The notorious gang has seen its servers taken down and bitcoin seized, but may have morphed into a new group called Chaos
