Cybersecurity Incident Disrupts Business at Major Atlanta Company

Cybersecurity Incident Disrupts Business at Major Atlanta Company

Just this past December, there was a severe cybersecurity incident that halted operations at a significant Atlanta-based company. Read this blog to learn more.  

With technology advancing at a very rapid rate and cyber threats becoming more prevalent, now is the time to ensure you have the proper cybersecurity measures in place. Today, companies are working towards creating advanced barriers for these hackers and using technology to improve processes.

However, many major cybersecurity incidents are still occurring around the globe. Just this past December, there was a severe incident in Atlanta that left one major company forced to halt their operations temporarily.

Details About the Cyber Breach

Southwire Co. LLC, which is a Carrollton-based wire manufacturer, had it’s manufacturing and shipping operations disrupted after a serious cybersecurity incident.

The incident forced the company to shut down critical systems on a Monday, but some systems were back up and running by the end of the day. The company was notified about the incident by its security monitoring system.

Southwire’s vice president of Talent Acquisition and Communications, Jason Pollard, said in a statement, “We immediately self-quarantined by shutting down the entire network. While many locations were still functioning during this time, there were certain functions that were impacted”

Jason also mentioned that the event caused the most disruption in the shipping department. “The incident did cause some disruption in our ability to make and ship our products,” Pollard continued.

Severe Disruption in Workflow

While the cyber breach affected vital systems within the company, some employees were forced to stay home from work. For the locations that were concerned, the company told some of their employees not to report to work as the incident assessment continued.

The company was asked if the event was reported to law enforcement, and Pollard had the following response: “We are considering all avenues that may assist us with this investigation.”

While the incident had the largest impact on a few different locations, the company claims that the security breach had an effect on the company as a whole.

Unclear About the Type of Attack

Many questions were surrounding the event, and the statement released by the company included an FAQ-style section to solve some of the pressing issues. One of those questions asked if the incident involved a ransomware attack. The answer in the statement was: “Our investigation is still ongoing.”

In a statement on that following Tuesday, Jason Pollard said, “The safety of our employees, the quality of our products, and our commitment to our customers are critically important to us. Today, we’re bringing critical systems back online, prioritizing manufacturing and shipping functions that enable us to create and send products to our customers.

“We are dedicated to restoring all systems and bringing all of our employees back to work as safely and as quickly as possible,” the vice president added.

Throughout the whole day on that following Wednesday, Southwire’s website was still unavailable.

About Southwire

Southwire is a huge private company that has 34 manufacturing locations, ten distribution centers, and multiple support locations worldwide as of October 2018.

Throughout its manufacturing process, the company builds wire and cable, metal-clad cable, OEM wire products, engineered products, utility products, and portable and electronic cord products. Just this past year, Southwire ranked fourth on the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 2019 list of Atlanta’s Top 50 Private Companies.

The company had revenue of $6.1 billion in 2018, and Southwire currently has 3,000 employees in the metro-Atlanta area and about 7,800 worldwide.

Cybersecurity Should Be a Top Priority

With this recent cyberattack, this forces companies to reassess their cybersecurity processes and incident response plans. If cyber attackers can infiltrate large, highly secure systems such as Southwire’s, then companies around the globe are highly susceptible to an attack.

As technology is expanding rapidly and cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated than ever before, now is the time to ensure your cybersecurity measures are reliable and prepared for any breach.

Luckily, as hackers are becoming extremely smart, cybersecurity software and technology is also becoming very advanced.

Although this may be uncharted territory for many companies, it’s vital to assemble the right cybersecurity teams, utilize the right software, and safeguard your company to provide the durable protection it deserves.

If you want to improve your cybersecurity efforts in Atlanta, Charlotte, or anywhere across the SE portion of the United States, contact 360 Smart Networks today for a consultation.