Scottish engineering weir group hit by ransomware attack

​On Thursday 7^th of October 2021, Weir Group, a Scottish multinational engineering firm disclosed they had experienced an attempted ransomware attack back in September 2021 that had led to significant temporary disruption due to the process of their cyber security systems being activated by the incident. The incident disclosed in the firm’s Q3 trade update, where they stated, “The Group is currently managing the consequences of a sophisticated attempted ransomware attack that occurred in the second half of September”. Most of the disruptions have affected shipments, manufacturing, and engineering, which has resulted in revenue deferrals of £50m.

They also stated that their cybersecurity systems and controls had responded quickly to the threat and took robust action. The company say that the attack has had no impact on Q3 orders as all their facilities are operational, and customer impact is currently being mitigated.

Weir Group is also working on progressively restoring capabilities on a partial basis in the coming weeks, in order of business priority. However, it expects issues to still impact its operations in Q4 2021.

“We responded quickly and comprehensively to what was a sophisticated external attack on our business. The robust action to protect our infrastructure and data has led to significant temporary disruption but our teams have responded magnificently to this challenge and have managed to minimise the impact on our customers. We will continue to focus on the safe restoration of all our systems whilst strengthening our future resilience even further.” – Jon Stanton, Weir Group Chief Executive.

The firm has announced they haven’t found any evidence that any personal or other sensitive data has been exfiltrated or encrypted and they are liaising with regulators and relevant intelligence services to make sure the incident is resolved.