Agricultural equipment giant AGCO says its business operations have been impacted after falling victim to a ransomware attack last week.
AGCO designs, makes, and distributes agricultural machinery and precision technology, offering equipment under brands such as Challenger, Fendt, Massey Ferguson, and Valtra.
On Friday, the company announced that it fell victim to a ransomware attack that impacted some production facilities.
AGCO says it has launched an investigation into the incident and estimates that it might need at least several days before it could restore all operations to normal.
“AGCO is still investigating the extent of the attack, but it is anticipated that its business operations will be adversely affected for several days and potentially longer to fully resume all services depending upon how quickly the company is able to repair its systems,” AGCO said on Friday.
The company also noted that the recovery process involves reinstalling software and restoring IT operations at the affected facilities.
“Our expectations with regard to resolving the issues are forward-looking statements, and actual results could be materially different,” AGCO said.
As BackBox vice president of product management Craig McDonald pointed out to SecurityWeek, the attack comes a few weeks after the FBI warned of ransomware attacks targeting the agriculture industry in the United States.
The incident, McDonald says, may ultimately have an impact on the supply chain of agricultural equipment production as a whole.
To mitigate the impact of such attacks, organizations are advised to implement proper backup and recovery plans that should include complete inventory of all assets, setting up individual responsibilities, and implementing alternative communication methods.
Organizations should also plan for potential network downtime and should make sure that the latest patches and security updates are installed across their environments, to stay protected against potential vulnerability exploitation.
Related: FBI Warns of Ransomware Attacks on Farming Co-ops During Planting, Harvest Seasons
Related: Ransomware Targeted 14 of 16 U.S. Critical Infrastructure Sectors in 2021
Related: FBI Warns Ransomware Attack Could Disrupt Food Supply Chain