Schneider Electric suffers Cactus ransomware attack

Energy management leader Schneider Electric has suffered a Cactus ransomware attack resulting in the theft of corporate data. The ransomware attack is reported to have hit the company's Sustainability Business division earlier this month on January 17th.

The attack disrupted some of Schneider Electric's Resource Advisor cloud platform, which continue to suffer outages even today. The ransomware gang reportedly stole terabytes of corporate data during the cyberattack and is now threating the company to leak the stolen data if a ransom demand is not met.

While it is not known what type of data was stolen, the Sustainability Business division provides consulting services to enterprise organizations, advising on renewable energy solutions and helping them navigate complex climate regulatory requirements for companies worldwide. Some of the customers of Schneider Electric's Sustainability Business division include Allegiant Travel Company, Clorox, DHL, DuPont, Hilton, Lexmark, PepsiCo, and Walmart.

The stolen data could contain sensitive information about customers' power utilization, industrial control and automation systems, and compliance with environmental and energy regulations.

It is not known if Schneider Electric will be paying a ransom demand. But if one is not paid, it is likely the ransomware gang will leak the stolen data as they have done after previous attacks.

In a statement, Schneider Electric confirmed that its Sustainability Business division suffered a cyberattack and that data was accessed by the threat actors. However, the company says the attack was restricted to this one divisiion and did not impact other parts of the company.