Major airplane parts manufacturer ASCO hit with ransomware attack

• ASCO factory in Zaventem, Belgium was hit by a ransomware infection causing major downtime as most of the plants IT systems were infected.
• ASCO shut down production in factories across Germany, Canada, and the United States.

What is the issue?

ASCO, one of the largest airplane parts manufacturer, suffered a ransomware attack crippling production in factories across four countries.

What happened?

On June 7, 2019, ASCO factory in Zaventem, Belgium was hit by a ransomware infection causing major downtime as most of the plant’s IT systems were infected.

• As a result of which, almost 1,000 of its 1,400 workers were sent home.
• The manufacturing company also extended leave for the entire week as well as shut down production in factories across Germany, Canada, and the United States.
• However, the non-production offices located in France and Brazil were operational.

“We have submitted an application for recognition of temporary unemployment due to force majeure,” Vicky Welvaert, HR director at ASCO said.

Worth noting

The airplane parts manufacturer’s some of the primary clients include Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, and Lockheed Martin.

What actions were taken?

• The aviation company has notified the appropriate authorities and the police department about the incident.
• It has also engaged third-party IT experts to remediate the incident as quickly as possible.

“We have informed all competent authorities in this area of this cyber attack and have engaged external experts to solve the problem. We are currently working hard and hard at it,” Welvaert added.

However, details related to the name of the ransomware and the recovery steps taken by the company to remediate the attack still remains unknown.