Australian steel maker BlueScope has recently been struck by a cyberattack that has disrupted some of the company’s operations.
The company said Friday it responded to a detected “cyber incident” at one of its US-based businesses. Although BlueScope did not share any information about the type of attack, iTnews confirmed the business had been hit by ransomware and it was working to restore backup systems.
BlueScope said the incident affected some of its IT processes, which mainly affected Australia’s manufacturing and sales operations.
“Some processes have been paused while some manual processes and workarounds continue with other processes including steel dispatches,” the company said.
North Star, Asian, and New Zealand units of the firm have experienced only minor disruptions and have continued to operate “widely unaffected.”
“The Company has returned to manual operations in the affected areas where possible while fully evaluating the impact and remedies as required in order to return as quickly as possible to normal operations,” BlueScope said.
BlueScope isn’t the only major Australian company that has been struck in recent weeks by ransomware. Shipping giant Toll announced earlier this month that some of its devices have been compromised with ransomware — this was the company’s second ransomware incident this year.
Originally, Toll said there was no proof that the attackers stole any information, but later admitted that the hackers succeeded in accessing information about current and former employees and details of business agreements with business clients.
1/2 As a precautionary measure, Toll has made the decision to shut down a number of systems in response to a cyber security incident. Several Toll customer-facing applications are impacted as a result. Our immediate priority is to resume services to customers as soon as possible.
— Toll Group (@Toll_Group) February 3, 2020
Nefilim ransomware, whose developers are known to steal data and threaten to make it public unless a ransom is paid, was involved in the Toll attack.
