Big Norwegian Aluminum Producer Suffers Ransomware Attack

[hakkoru]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-19/hydro-says-victim-of-extensive-cyber-attack-impacting-operations-jtfgz6td

Norsk Hydro ASA, one of the world’s biggest aluminum producers, suffered production outages after a ransomware attack affected operations across Europe and the U.S.

The company called the situation “quite severe” and was still working to contain the effects of the attack. It couldn’t detail how much output had been impacted, but said the so-called potlines, which process molten aluminum and need to be kept running 24 hours a day, had switched to manual mode.

Some operations at plants where metal is fashioned into finished products for use in cars, planes and other manufactured goods, have been temporarily stopped, said spokesman Halvor Molland. The company is doing everything possible to fix the problem, but isn’t ready to give any forecasts yet, he said by phone. Aluminum futures were little changed on the London Metal Exchange
.
On a conference call with reporters, Chief Financial Officer Eivind Kallevik said the company didn’t know the identity of the hackers and that it has cyber insurance. The shares slid 1.1 percent to 35.44 kroner as of 3:19 p.m. in Oslo.

Looks like generic crimeware rather than state-sponsored malware