Global electronics manufacturer Lacroix has suffered a cyberattack resulting in the temporary closure of over a third of its sites worldwide. The company says the breach has been contained, but the affected sites are likely to be closed for a week.
Local infrastructure has been encrypted in the hack, says the company, and an investigation into the incident is currently underway. Lacroix makes smart electronics for clients working predominantly in industrial settings, and reported revenue of €708m in the past financial year, the vast majority of which (€522m) came from its electronics division.
Headquartered in Beaupréau-en-Mauges, in the Pays de la Loire region of Western France, the company has more than 4,000 employees in sites across Europe, North Africa and the United States.
Lacroix closes three sites after cyberattack
Electronics design and manufacture company Lacroix announced earlier today that a cyberattack affecting three of its eight manufacturing sites took place over the weekend.
Its manufacturing centre in Beaupréau, as well as a German site in Willich and a factory in Zibra, Tunisia have all been compromised. The trio constitute 19% of the company’s production and have all been closed while the incident is investigated. An initial plan has been put in place to reopen on 22 May.
During the closure, the company will be implementing backups and conducting analysis to identify any exfiltrated data.
It is not known whether a ransom has been demanded or paid by the company, but it is worth noting that cyberattacks involving encryption and exfiltrated data are often ransomware.
The company is hopeful that the disruption will be short-lived. “Even if it is still too early to know exactly when production will resume, Lacroix is aiming for a reopening on Monday 22 May,” said a statement from the company.
Lacroix claims it will be able to minimise the impact of the breach on customers as Thursday is a public holiday in both France and Germany, meaning activity at the end of the week would have been minimal.
“Given the favourable calendar with only three days of effective production this week on the French and German sites, Lacroix does not envisage at this stage any significant impact on the performances announced for the group for the whole of 2023,” the statement said.
Tech Monitor has contacted Lacroix for further information but had not received a reply at the time of writing.
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