Image via Ant Rozetsky
EVRAZ, one of the world’s largest steel manufacturers and mining operations, has been hit by ransomware, a source inside the company told ZDNet today.
The infection has been identified as a result of the Ryuk ransomware strain.
The ransomware infection has hit and brought down the company’s North American branches. These include primarily steel production plants across Canada and the US.
Manufacturing has been halted at most plants, our source told us, and the company’s IT staff is working to contain the infection and prevent it from spreading.
According to EVRAZ’s website, the company employs more than 1,400 people in the United States and 1,800 in Canada.
EVRAZ is owned by Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch and billionaire, known primarily for controlling Chelsea, a UK football club.
The company’s North American branch did not return a request for comment. EVRAZ’s European offices could not be reached after business hours.
The company’s shares crashed 7% at the end of February when the company disclosed that 2019 revenues slumped 7.3% to $11.91 billion from $12.84 billion, while pretax profit crashed 72% from $3.2 billion to $902 million.
EVRAZ is just the latest victim in a long list of ransomware infections at some of the world’s largest companies.
Past notable victims include Forbes 500 company EMCOR, DOD contractor EWA, law firm Epiq Global, North America railroad company Railworks, Croatia’s largest petrol station chain INA Group, parts manufacturer Visser, defense contractor CPI, and French ISP and cloud provider Bretagne Télécom.
