A Boeing logo is seen at the 54th International Paris Airshow at Le Bourget airport near Paris, France, June 18, 2023. Portal/Benoit Tessier/File Photo Acquire License Rights
WASHINGTON, Nov 1 (Portal) – Boeing (BA.N), one of the world’s largest defense and aerospace companies, said on Wednesday the company is investigating a cyber incident that affected parts of its parts and distribution business and is conducting an investigation law enforcement agencies work together.
Boeing admitted the incident days after the Lockbit cybercrime gang said it had stolen “an enormous amount” of sensitive data from the US plane maker, which it would put online if Boeing didn’t pay the ransom by November 2.
The Lockbit threat was no longer on the gang’s website as of Wednesday and it did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Boeing declined to comment on whether Lockbit was behind the disclosed cyber incident.
“This issue has no impact on flight safety,” a Boeing spokesman said. “We are actively investigating the incident and coordinating with law enforcement and regulatory authorities. We are notifying our customers and suppliers.”
Boeing’s parts and distribution business, part of the Global Services division, provides materials and logistics support to its customers, according to the company’s 2022 annual report. Some webpages on the company’s official website that contained information about its Global Services division were unavailable Wednesday due to a report citing technical issues.
“We expect the website to be available again soon,” the pages say.
According to the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Lockbit was the most active global ransomware group by number of victims last year and has affected 1,700 US organizations since 2020.
The hacking group typically deploys ransomware on a victim organization’s system to lock it down and also steals sensitive data for blackmail.
It is unclear what data Lockbit may have stolen from the company. Brett Callow, a ransomware expert and threat analyst at cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, said that while companies could pay cybercriminals for ransoms, that was no guarantee that data would not be lost.
“Paying the ransom would simply earn LockBit a small promise to destroy any data it received,” Callow said. “However, there would be no way to know for sure whether this was actually the case.”
The loss of military-related information is “extremely problematic,” he added. Boeing did not comment on whether defense-related data was affected by the cyber incident.
CISA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Boeing statement.
Reporting by Valerie Insinna; Editing by Chris Reese, Lisa Shumaker, Jamie Freed and Lincoln Feast.
Our standards: The Trust Principles.
Acquire license rights, opens new tab