[German]The materials division of thyssenkrupp AG has been the victim of a cyber attack, the company has announced. The attack was detected by the company's IT, with defensive measures currently taking place. This is because the attack is still ongoing, the company said. The materials division (Materials Services), the company's largest business unit in terms of revenue, is probably affected. A crisis team is currently trying to gain an overview.
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The industrial group thyssenkrupp, headquartered in Essen, became the target of a hacker attack at noon on Tuesday (Dec. 20) (thanks to the reader for the tip). The WAZ (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung) first reported on the incident (article is behind a paywall). In the meantime, however, various German media (see here, here and here) have reported on the cyberattack.
According to the company, the cyber attack is currently still ongoing. As the attack was noticed, the responsible IT is currently making defensive attempts against the attackers, who are suspected to be in the criminal area. According to the company, areas of thyssenkrupp's materials trading business (Materials Services) are affected by the incident. The unit is the Group's top-selling business area in 2021/2022 with €16.4 billion in sales and employs around 16,000 people worldwide. It is also said that areas of the company's headquarters in Essen have also been affected.
The company says that IT detected the attack "quickly" – whatever that means. Since then, it says, efforts have been underway to restore IT security. The company is quoted in the media as saying, "An interdisciplinary crisis team has been set up and is working together with the group's IT security to contain the attack and ideally end it as quickly as possible."
Thyssenkrupp has also involved the relevant authorities, he said. "At this point in time, no damage has been done, nor are there any indications that data has been stolen or changed," the spokesman stressed to Handelsblatt.
German thyssenkrupp AG is a industrial group focused on steel processing and Germany's biggest steel producer. The Group was formed in 1999 from the merger of Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp with Thyssen AG. The Group employs around 96,500 people worldwide and has sales of around 34 billion euros. Last year the materials trading division (Materials Services) made 16.4 billion euros in sales of steel etc. and employs around 16,000 people.
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