North American building materials producer Simpson Manufacturing hacked

A cybersecurity incident at engineering firm and building materials producer Simpson Manufacturing has disrupted parts of its business operations. The firm has taken some impacted systems offline to fight intrusion and limit access.

On October 10th, Simpson Manufacturing experienced disruptions in its information technology (IT) infrastructure and applications after a cybersecurity incident.

“The incident has caused, and is expected to continue to cause, disruption to parts of the Company’s business operations,” Simpson Manufacturing disclosed in an 8-K form firm that it filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Known for its structural connectors, anchors, and products for new construction and retrofitting, the company had to take certain systems offline and take other steps to stop and remediate malicious activity, as it “is working diligently to respond to and address this issue.”

Simpson Manufacturing did not provide further details, as the investigation to assess the incident's nature and scope is still in its early stages. However, it expects some negative effects of the cyber attack to continue. The firm’s efforts are supported by “leading third-party cybersecurity experts.”

“At this time, no ransomware group has claimed this cyberattack, and it is unclear what data was breached,” said Nick Tausek, Lead Security Automation Architect at Swimlane. “The manufacturing industry is a ripe target for threat actors due to the potential supply chain disruptions that typically ensue after a cyberattack.”

As threat actors continue to target the manufacturing industry, Tausek is urging companies to implement the proper tools to prevent and mitigate future breaches.

“Proper tools include low-code automation, which removes the need for heavy coding from users and allows full visibility into IT environments, ensuring the highest level of protection over valuable human information and providing security teams with alerts in real-time that can assist in thwarting any potential threats,” he said.

Simpson Manufacturing has a market capitalization of $6 Billion. Its share price has declined by 3.7% over the past five days and 9.4% over the past month. However, the company’s stock still trades 61% higher since the start of the year.