Brazilian airplane maker Embraer on Monday disclosed a cyberattack that, according to some reports, involved ransomware.
Embraer manufactures commercial, executive, military, and agricultural aircraft, and its website says the company is the third largest commercial jets maker, with more than 8,000 airplanes 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 shared few details about the incident, claiming that files on only a “single environment” became inaccessible due to the attack.
Embraer said it quickly initiated its incident response procedures, which caused temporary disruptions to some operations due to the need to isolate some systems.
“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.”
Brazilian news outlet Globo learned from sources within Embraer that the attack involved a piece of ransomware. Globo also reported that the incident temporarily disrupted access to the company’s systems for employees working from home.
SecurityWeek has reached out to Embraer for more information and will update this article if the company responds.
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.
UPDATE: Embraer told SecurityWeek that it cannot share any additional information at this time.
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