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Aerospace giant Boeing has revealed that it has been hit by a cyberattack – but has played down the reports insisting that aircraft production and deliveries have not been impacted.
The attack has been likened to the infamous WannaCry malware.
Last year, WannaCry affected thousands of computers in over 70 countries. The malware locks victims’ computers and data behind encryption, holding the systems hostage until the victims can pay a hefty ransom – usually in the form of Bitcoin.
The New York Times reached out to Boeing to confirm whether or not the attack involved WannaCry, but spokesman Charles Bickers declined to elaborate or confirm.
In a statement, the aerospace developer said that the attack was “limited in scope” and that it had not affected the company’s production lines. The company also played down news of the attack in its statement, assuring the pubic that it has everything under control.
“A number of articles on a malware disruption are overstated and inaccurate,” the statement read. “Our cybersecurity operations centre detected a limited intrusion of malware that affected a small number of systems. Remediations were applied and this is not a production or delivery issue.”
Boeing Commercial Airplane production engineering chief engineer Mike VanderWel said in an internal memo that the attack was “metastasizing.” He also shared his concerns that the attack could spread to the manufacturer’s production systems and airline software.
“We are on a call with just about every VP in Boeing,” VanderWel wrote.
The same memo called for “All hands on deck.”
