A cyber attack disrupted Bridgestone production in America

Japanese tire giant Bridgestone's production in America was disrupted by a cyber attack “for about a week” between the end of February and the beginning of March, a spokesperson for the group told AFP on Friday.

This continent is by far the main area of activity of the group, with about twenty factories in the United States and also plants in Mexico, Brazil or Argentina.

The spokesman noted that not all were affected, but refused to detail which ones were impacted and how it affected their activity.

Bridgestone Americas detected “a computer security incident” on Feb. 27 and quickly disconnected affected systems from the rest of its network, the group said in a statement Friday, evoking a “ransomware” attack.

Once the threat was contained, the group was able to reconnect its systems and progressively return to normal activity, he added.

Bridgestone reported this attack to US police and is in contact with investigators, he said.

Many countries have warned of an increased risk of cyber attacks given the tensions caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the international sanctions against Moscow, to which Japan has contributed.

Other Japanese groups recently fell victim to these attacks. On March 1, Toyota had to suspend its domestic production due to a cyber attack against one of its suppliers, Kojima Industries.

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