US microprocessor manufacturer Microchip Technology claimed yesterday that a cyber incident over the weekend has impacted its ability to fulfil orders.
The Arizona-headquartered firm said in a Form 8-K filing with the SEC that it detected “suspicious activity” on its IT systems on August 17.
“Upon detecting the issue, the company began taking steps to assess, contain and remediate the potentially unauthorized activity. On August 19, 2024, the company determined that an unauthorized party disrupted the company’s use of certain servers and some business operations,” the filing continued.
“The company promptly took additional steps to address the incident, including isolating the affected systems, shutting down certain systems, and launching an investigation with the assistance of external cybersecurity advisors.”
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Microchip Technology said its manufacturing facilities are “operating at less than normal levels” as a result of the incident, and that its “ability to fulfill orders is currently impacted,” although it’s working hard to resume business as usual.
“As the company’s investigation is ongoing, the full scope, nature and impact of the incident are not yet known,” it concluded. “As of the date of this filing, the company has not yet determined whether the incident is reasonably likely to materially impact the company’s financial condition or results of operations.”
Although it has yet to be confirmed, many of the signs point to an attempted ransomware attack, given the operational disruption experienced by the firm. Microchip made over $8bn in revenue last year, making it an attractive potential target for extortion.
The firm makes a variety of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions for customers in multiple verticals.
Given their criticality to global supply chains, chip manufacturers have become a popular target for digital extortion in recent years. Big names including AMD, Nvidia, Nexperia, ASML and TSMC have all suffered ransomware or data theft.
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