Global ransomware cyber attack affects Renault-Nissan production
The global cyber attack that has been in news for some days has affected 2.3 lakh computers in multiple organisations spread across 150 countries. The attack had also compelled French car manufacturer Renault to halt production at its Sandouville plant in northwestern France. Even Nissan's Sunderland plant was also affected. This plant manufactures the Qashqai and the Infiniti Q30.
Nissan Qashqai
The cyber attack was launched with the WannaCry ransom programme, mainly targeting Microsoft Windows operating system. The ransom that was demanded by the cyber attack is that of 300 bitcoin in 28 different languages. Bitcoin is a digital payment system that cannot be traced by any means. This attack was spread through phishing mails and computer worms affecting unpatched vulnerable systems. The files that were affected by this virus were encrypted against the demanded ransom. The attackers had also threatened to erase all files and data from the affected systems. It is being said that the attacking software tool that has been used in spreading the virus has been stolen from the US military intelligence organisation, NSA.
The TV screens that usually displayed the manufacturing schedule for the day at the Renault's Sandouville plant had a demand written in French for $300 bitcoin ransom. There was also a clock that showed the time that Renault had to pay the ransom amount before all the files were deleted from the company's system. However, both the automobile organisations had taken suitable measures to counter the attack and resumed production at all their plants.
We did reach out to Renault-Nissan India to know if their operations were affected too by the ransomware attack. The alliance stated, "Like many organisations around the world, some Nissan entities were targeted by the ransomware attack. Our teams have been responding accordingly and there was no major impact on our business. Normal production operations are underway at our RNAIPL plant in Chennai."
