Shares in Beneteau, the sailing yacht and boat builder, dropped on Monday by 2.1% as a result of a cyber attack that started on February 18th.
Beneteau confirmed on Sunday night that a malware attack has taken grip of the company. The company detected a malware intrusion during the night of February 18th and disconnected its information systems to prevent a further spread. Systems included shutting down its telephone system, its extranet connecting it to its dealers and distributors, and its internal CRM.
While the company utilises it’s backup systems to restore systems to allow Beneteau’s activities to start again, production at some of its units, particularly in France, will have to slow down or stop over this week as they feel the effects of the incident.
As a result, the group asked its production operators not to come to work on Monday.
This is not the first time that the French boating industry has been in the news for a cyber attack. Last June the Fountaine-Pajot shipyard in La Rochelle was the victim of an attack that heavily affected its production of over 10 days.
The news of the Beneteau attack comes on the same week where two French hospitals were hit by crypto-virus RYUK. The hospitals at Villefranche-sur-Saône and Dax were paralysed by attacks, forcing the hospitals to return to paper systems, transferring some patients to other facilities, and postponing surgeries.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has promised to invest €1 billion in a national cyber security strategy, following the increased ransomware attacks.
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