Crown Equipment faces operational disruptions from cyberattacks

The forklift manufacturing company Crown Equipment recently confirmed that it suffered a cybersecurity incident earlier this month. This cyberattack has resulted in various disruptions in the company’s manufacturing facilities.

Based on reports, Crown employees stated that the company was infiltrated and that all IT services have been shut down since at least the beginning of the month. On the other hand, the company’s security team advised its employees not to accept MFA requests and to be aware of phishing emails.

In addition, employees have been unable to log in, access service manuals, or allegedly deliver machines due to IT system failures.

 

Crown Equipment confirmed the cyberattack earlier this week.

 

Crown Equipment officially admitted that an international cybercriminal group orchestrated the cyberattack. The confirmation was included in the company’s notification emails distributed to its employees earlier this week.

The breach occurred after an employee fell victim to a social engineering attempt, allowing the threat actors to install remote access malware on a company computer.

Employees were frustrated by the situation because their company allegedly lacked transparency and communication about the incident. However, a separate report claimed that the company had changed its approach to dealing with the incident and that staff would receive their usual salary as an advance, with the option to make up for missing hours.

The corporation is still dealing with the interruption created by the attack and is progressing toward returning to normal commercial operations. Crown is also working closely with its clients to minimise the impact of the incident on their operations.

Crown Equipment is gradually getting systems back online, but manufacturing remains disrupted. Furthermore, the company has not disclosed the true nature of the cyberattack but claimed that an international cybercriminal group orchestrated the attack. Hence, this detail can imply that the company was most likely targeted by ransomware.

Still, this detail indicates that the campaign potentially stole company data during the attack if it turns out to be ransomware. As of now, the ransomware allegations remain unconfirmed and relevant, and concerned parties will have to wait for further details as this incident develops.