Norsk Hydro cyberattack highlights the crucial role of technology in the aluminium sector
As industries increasingly embrace digital systems, strengthening cybersecurity becomes paramount
London/Oslo — The ransomware attack crippling one of the world’s top aluminum makers is exposing how crucial sophisticated digital systems have become in the centuries-old industry of turning mined rock into metal products. Following a “severe” cyberattack on Norsk Hydro’s operations in the US and Europe late on Monday, the company has been forced to shut down several automated product lines and is keeping its smelters running using manual production processes. While the company said it’s still able to continue its deliveries to customers, that could change if the stoppages last a long time. The critical issue for Hydro is to now find specific customer orders and the recipe for how to fulfil them, CFO Eivind Kallevik said. “We can get that either through cleaning the systems and restoring the backups, and in some cases we are able to go back into the backup systems and pull data more manually,’ he said. “That is a big task at all the plants.” The threat of a supply disruption at Hyd...
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