Fisher & Paykel Appliances a victim of ransomware scourge

Thursday, 11 June 2020

Company says attack impacted manufacturing and distribution.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances has confirmed it has fallen victim to a damaging ransomware attack.

The Auckland-based whiteware manufacturer, which is owned by China's Haier, was targeted by a malware program called Nefilim.

The same ransomware programme was used in an extortion attempt on Australia's Toll Holdings in May.

Australian brewer Lion and Japanese car maker Honda have suffered similar attacks in recent days.

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Brett Callow, a threat analyst at IT security company Emisoft, said the hackers had posted financial information that they stole from Fisher & Paykel online, in what he assumed was a bid to up the pressure for a ransom.

But if they had obtained any customer information they had not released that, he said.

F&P Appliances would not say whether it had received a ransomware demand, though that would be expected.

Callers to the company were being advised on Thursday that it had 'systems issues'.

The company has no connection to health technology company Fisher & Paykel Healthcare.

Some IT security experts have called for governments to try to stem the tide of ransomware and reduce the profitability of attacks by making it illegal for victims to pay ransomware demands.

A poll in January indicated majority support for the concept among Stuff readers.

But a spokeswoman for Communications Minister Kris Faafoi responded in March that the 'short answer' was that the Government was not looking into reforms.

'Advice for individuals and businesses affected by ransomware was on the Government's Cert NZ website, she said.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances spokesman Andrew Luxmoore said in a statement that the attack on its business occurred last week and had impacted its manufacturing and distribution.

'The attempt was identified quickly and, as a result, we locked down our IT ecosystem immediately.

'We are currently working with third party experts to restore our systems and our ability to take and fulfil orders, as well as introducing additional security measures,' he said.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances was 'one of many businesses' that had been the subject of a global cyber-attack in recent months, he said.

'We are working closely with other businesses to understand how we can better protect ourselves from this type of criminal activity.'