Lacroix shut three electronics plants for a week after ransomware attack

French electronics manufacturer Lacroix said it intercepted a targeted cyberattack on the night of Friday, May 12 into Saturday, May 13, 2023, that hit three sites in its Electronics division: Beaupreau in France, Willich in Germany and Zriba in Tunisia.

The company said parts of the local infrastructure at those sites had been encrypted before the attack was contained, and that it was analyzing systems to determine whether any data had been exfiltrated. It shut down affected online systems, secured its remaining sites and worked from backups to rebuild.

Lacroix did not use the word ransomware in its statement, but the combination of file encryption and suspected data theft led security reporters to characterize the incident as a ransomware attack. No group publicly claimed responsibility in the days that followed.

The three plants stayed closed for a week under partial activity arrangements, with a site by site restart plan. Lacroix targeted a reopening of Monday, May 22.

Together the three sites accounted for 19 percent of group revenue in 2022. The company said it did not expect a material effect on its results for the year, noting that the shutdown week contained only three production days because of the calendar.