Last Updated on 02/12/2020 by Drashti
Brazilian aeroplane maker Embraer on Monday,30th November disclosed a cyberattack.
Embraer S.A. is a Brazilian aerospace conglomerate that produces commercial, military, executive and agricultural aircraft and provides aeronautical services. The company is the third-largest producer of civil aircraft, after Boeing and Airbus, with more than 8,000 aeroplanes delivered to date.
In a press release, the company said its IT systems were breached recently as part of an attack that was detected on November 25.
The company claimed that the attack “affected only the company’s archive environment” and provided some details about the incident. Embraer said some operations have been temporarily hampered because of the need to isolate some systems due to the rapid onset of response to incidents.
“The Company continues to operate with the use of contingency systems, with no material impact to its activities,” said Antonio Carlos Garcia, executive VP of finance and investor relations at Embraer. “The Company is using all its efforts to fully normalize its operations, investigate the circumstances of the attack, determine whether there is any impact on its business and third parties, and define the measures to be taken.”
While the aircraft manufacturer has not revealed the nature of the cyber attack or what kind of data might have been stolen, people familiar with the matter told the Brazilian newspaper O Globo that due to the incident Embraer had to shut down a good part of its servers and that the intruders got access to some of its backup systems.
The attack also temporarily affected access to the company’s systems for staff that had been working from home. At the time the company’s IT team told employees it was a system glitch, not a hacker attack, said Globo.
According to the sources, the attackers demanded a ransom in cryptocurrency from the company, which suggests that Embraer had become a victim of a ransomware attack.
In 2020, Embraer has been in news all year long, be it for the collapse of Boeing deal,$315 million losses or its lawsuit.
But this hasn’t been the only thing, it’s worth mentioning that, earlier this year, Embraer Defense & Security invested in two cybersecurity companies, Tempest Security Intelligence and Kryptus, in an effort to diversify its business.
