Agricultural equipment manufacturer AGCO claims its business activities have been compromised after a ransomware strike last week. AGCO manufactures, sells, and produces agricultural machinery and precision technologies under the Challenger, Ferguson, Fendt, Massey, and Valtra brands.
On Friday, the firm revealed that it had been hit by a ransomware strike that had affected several of its production facilities. AGCO claims to have initiated an inquiry into the event and predicts that it would take at least several days to restore regular operations.
“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.
According to the business, reinstalling software and restoring IT activities at the impacted locations are also part of the recovery process. However, expectations for fixing the difficulties are forward-looking statements, and actual outcomes might differ substantially.
Craig McDonald, vice president of product management at BackBox, said that the incident comes only weeks after the FBI warned of ransomware attacks targeting the US agriculture business. He believes that the incident might have a long-term impact on the agricultural equipment supply chain.
Organizations should develop adequate backup and recovery strategies that include a thorough inventory of all assets, assigning individual duties, and adopting alternate communication ways to limit the impact of such cyberattacks. To be safe against potential vulnerability exploitation, organizations should plan for any network outages and ensure that the latest patches and security upgrades are implemented throughout all environments.
