Ray-Ban owner hit by ransomware attack: Details here
What's the story
Luxottica, the Italian parent of popular eye-wear brands like Ray-Ban and Oakley, has fallen victim to a ransomware attack. The intrusion affected the company's websites and brought its operations in Italy and China to a halt. Luckily enough, no data appears to have been compromised, according to a senior executive of the conglomerate. Here is all you need to know about the attack.
Impact
Sites stopped working, employees sent home
Over the weekend, a number of people reported that several first-party Luxottica sites and those run by its brands were down. On Monday, the company reportedly asked employees at its Italy-based Agordo and Sedico offices to go home in light of a "computer system failure." Multiple sources of Italian outlet Ansa suggested that the IT issue was a serious one.
Confirmation
Then, company confirmed the attack
Subsequently, on September 22, the company confirmed that it had been attacked by a ransomware. Luxottica's information security manager Nicola Vanin said that the external attack forced them to turn everything off for a few hours. "By the end of the year Luxottica will suffer another thousand cyber attacks and this recent ransomware incident will improve all the Incident Response indicators," Vanin added.
Impact
No customer information stolen
Vanin went on to add that the attack did not compromise the personal information of Luxottica or its brands' customers and employees. "Analyzed the event, collected the clues in less than 24 hours [and] began the process of remediation of the affected servers," he said, adding that "Work activities are gradually returning to normal in the factories and in the headquarters of #Milano."
Incidents
Ransomware attacks are on the rise
Even though the attack against Luxottica, the world's largest eyewear company, did not compromise any data, it highlights a major concern - ransomware attacks are on the rise. In the past few months, several incidents of ransomware attacks have been reported, including those at renowned organizations like GPS device maker Garmin, photography giant Canon, and cruise line operator Carnival.