Switzerland-based Schlatter Industries announced that its IT network was compromised by a sophisticated malware attack on Friday. The company suspects that the attack may have been a professional attempt to extort money from its engineering services.
Schlatter Industries is a global provider within the wire industry, track construction, and the PMC industry and has been operating for over a century.
Preliminary investigations are underway to determine whether sensitive data had been stolen during the breach.
Schlatter Industries Cyberattack
The attack, which occurred on August 9, 2024, was met with immediate action from Schlatter’s internal IT specialists, who worked along with various external experts to contain the damage. The relevant authorities have been notified, and an investigation is currently underway to determine the full extent of the breach.
According to the alert on the Schlatter Industries‘s website, the company’s systems are being restored, and the IT team is working to make all functions available at the earliest.
On Friday, 9 August 2024, the Schlatter Group was attacked by a criminal cyber-attack using mal-
ware. The internal ICT specialists, together with other external experts, immediately took
measures to limit the damage as far as possible. The relevant authorities were involved.As part of this process, it is being investigated whether data was stolen. It can be assumed that this was
a professional attack. The unknown perpetrators are attempting to blackmail Schlatter. The ICT
experts are working intensively to make all systems available and functional again as quickly as
possible.”
Impact and Response
After the cyberattack on Schlatter Industries and the compromise of its IT network, the firm’s staff experienced various technical difficulties including disruption of regular email services.
The company has assured customers that it is working towards resolving the issue. In the meantime, alternative contact methods such as phone calls can be used.
Switzerland has faced major cybersecurity incidents in recent times. In June, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) confirmed that several Swiss government websites and organizations involved in the Ukraine peace summit discussions were ripe targets for cyberattacks prior to the event, and resulted in minor outages that did not significantly impact operations.
Earlier, Switzerland’s district court in the German-speaking district of March, home to about 45,000 residents, confirmed that it had fallen victim to a cyberattack. While the details disclosed officially over the incident were limited, it could possibly have been a ransomware attack.