ELLWANGEN (dpa-AFX) - Around a month after the cyberattack on battery manufacturer Varta, large parts of production have restarted. The majority of employees at the sites in Germany are also back on duty, said a company spokesperson. "We are in the process of processing customer orders." However, the attack will keep the company busy for a while yet.
The spokesperson explained that it is not yet possible to say with any certainty how the cyber attack will affect Varta's business. The company was also unable to provide any information on the amount of damage.
All five production sites, three of them in Germany and one each in Romania and Indonesia, as well as the administration were affected by the cyber attack in mid-February. According to the company, an organized hacker group was behind the attack on Varta's IT systems. Varta had shut down the IT systems and therefore production itself for security reasons when the cyber attack was discovered. The police are investigating.
The company was recently in the red. In the spring of last year, it was forced to restructure and announced the elimination of around 800 jobs worldwide as part of a cost-cutting program. According to the spokesperson, the restructuring is not jeopardized by the cyber attack, but there may be delays./ksr/DP/zb