Bridgestone Americas, a tire manufacturing conglomerate, has confirmed that it is responding to a cyber-attack that has been crippling operations across its numerous manufacturing plants across North America this week. The company has had to close down production due to the incident and has more concerns about potential effects on supply chains as it tries to contain the breach.
Multiple facilities in North America are affected by the attack
The cyberattack was initially reported on Tuesday, September 2, when two production sites of Bridgestone in Aiken County, South Carolina, were reported to be affected. On Wednesday, Canadian media outlets carried news of comparable upheaval at a manufacturing plant of the company in Joliette, Quebec, indicating a larger scope than had been originally announced. In response to press queries, the company said it was still investigating a small-scale cyber attack that affected part of its manufacturing plants. Our crew is quick at handling the issue as per our normal operating procedures.
Workers in plants around the response area were directly affected by the immediate effects of the cyberattack. At the South Carolina plants, workers whose regular tasks had stalled were reportedly offered a bleak option between remaining on the ground and doing preventive maintenance at full-day pay, or going home with no pay at all. The practical impact of cyber attacks on the manufacturing process and human resource management is brought to light.
The extent of the attack might be greater than the one that is officially recognized. Quebec Mayor Pierre-Luc Bellerose, of Joliette, home to Bridgestone with a massive plant of about 1,400 employees, told local media that he thinks all the company’s factories in North America were targeted by the attack. When informed about the incident, Mayor Bellerose, who made contact with executive members of the company, said that an internal memo had been dispatched to employees about the incident.
The company ensures that data is safe
Irrespective of the operational setbacks, Bridgestone has acted to assure the stakeholders of data security. And although we are still conducting our forensic investigation, we are certain that we were able to stem this small cyber incident at its early stages. The company said it did not believe that any customer data or interfaces had been compromised. This was added by Mayor Bellerose following his discussions with company officials, who stated that there was neither loss of information as regards the employees, nor to the customers.ย So on that side, they told me.
The firm confessed that it had found out about a massive cyber-attack that had impacted its production capacity. Bridgestone added that it was unclear how the attack was conducted, but it had started a thorough forensic investigation and had isolated the incident at its early stages.
History of cybersecurity problems History of cybersecurity problems
This is the second prime cybersecurity problem that Bridgestone has been grappling with in the recent past. In 2022, the company was attacked by the hacking group LockBit, which led to a serious ransomware attack, followed by the ensuing stagnation of the production process, not to mention the loss of data. The above assault indicates that big production firms remain susceptible to cyber attacks.
According to the company, its employees are round-the-clock trying to soften the blow and reduce the backlash in its supply chain, which may cause a shortage of products in the market. As the Bridgestone spokesperson mentions, business continuity and data and interface security have been and continue to be our priority. At the time of writing, no ransomware organizations have identified themselves as the attackers, and the company has not verified whether this was a ransomware attack.