Ransomware suspected – but unconfirmed – in debilitating assault
UPDATED Israeli chipmaker Tower Semiconductor has suspended some of its operations and taken servers offline in response to a cyber-attack.
“Tower has notified relevant authorities and is working closely with law enforcement organizations and with a leading team of worldwide experts, coordinated with its insurance providers, in order to recover the impacted systems as soon as possible,” the firm said in a statement issued on Sunday (September 6).
“The company has implemented specific measures to prevent the expansion of this event,” it added.
The extent and cause of the disruption – much less how costly it might prove to be – remains unclear.
In a brief holding statement, the company said that it had “halted certain of its servers and proactively held operations in some of its manufacturing facilities, and has done so in a gradual, organized manner”.
In response to questions from The Daily Swig, Tower Semiconductor described local reports it had suffered a ransomware-based attack as speculative without denying them outright.
The chipmaker said: "Our first priority to resume operations. We will notify publicly once this milestone [is] achieved."
"At this point, there is no assessment as to the actual financial effect on the company."
A spokesperson for the vendor added that reports is was claiming on its insurance following a ransomware infection is "based on the reporter speculations".
Tower Semiconductor specializes in the fabrication of analogue integrated circuits that find application in multiple verticals including automotive, medical, aerospace and defense.
This story has been updated to add comment from Tower Semiconductor
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