Bridgestone lost some data in Americas ransomware attack

The recent cyberattack on Bridgestone Americas resulted in the perpetrators gaining access to “a limited number of Bridgestone systems and threatening to make this information public.” However, the Bridgestone Americas statement released in answer to Tyres & Accessories questions on 15 March also explained that the company is: “…working around the clock with external security advisors, Accenture Security, to investigate and understand the full scope and nature of the incident.”

Referring to the widely report 27 February 2022 cyberattack that resulted in the shutdown of both new and retread tyre manufacturing operations in the USA, the Bridgestone Americas statement continued by defining the type of attack the company has sustained: “We have determined this incident to be the result of a ransomware attack….”

The attack included “removing information from a limited number of Bridgestone systems and threatening to make this information public” as is “common to attacks of this type”. Details of what data has been removed from Bridgestone Americas’ systems has not been released, but the company says it is “committed to conducting a swift and decisive investigation to determine as quickly as possible what specific data was taken from our environment.”

While the details are not clear, Bridgestone reinforced its policy that the company “treats the security of…teammates, customers, and partners’ information with the utmost importance”.

On 3 March Bridgestone Americas confirmed that significant portions of its tyre production capacity were back online. However, as of 15 March 2022 Bridgestone Americas did not confirm that 100 per cent of tyre production operations are running as normal again.

Some sources had suggested that the cyberattack was connected with the ongoing war in Ukraine. However, Bridgestone’s latest statement suggests that it is likely to be a more routine ransomware attack, with company representatives saying: “We have no evidence this was a targeted attack.”