NHYDY Norsk Hydro ASA (QX)

By Alistair MacDonald and Dominic Chopping 

Norsk Hydro AS said it suffered a ransomware cyberattack Tuesday that crippled computers and production at the aluminum and energy giant.

The Norwegian company, whose business includes mining, smelting and renewable-energy generation, said the virus had been isolated to keep it from spreading further internally, though it was uncertain when operations would return to normal.

"Let me be clear, the situation for Hydro is quite severe. The entire computer network is down," said Norsk Hydro finance chief Eivind Kallevik, who noted the virus first surfaced in the company's U.S. operations.

In a ransomware attack, hackers scramble the files of victims and demand ransom to decrypt them again. Mr. Kallevik said the attack on Norsk Hydro, which he described as involving an "encryption virus," was followed by a ransom demand.

In a well-known attack in 2017, so-called WannaCry ransomware affected businesses, hospitals and government agencies around the world.

Bente Hoff, the director of the Norwegian National Security Authority, said ransomware called LockerGoga is one of the suspects in the latest attack.

LockerGaga was behind the infection that forced French engineering company Altran Technologies SA to shut down its network in January, said Adam Meyers, vice president of intelligence at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike Inc.

In February, Altran said the French National Cybersecurity Agency confirmed that the company was attacked with "a crypto locker virus using a never-before-seen code that was nondetectable by best-in-class firewall and IT defense mechanisms."

A number of U.S. utilities have been hit by Russian hackers. The intrusion into the control rooms of the nation's power grid could have caused blackouts, federal officials have said; and top Trump administration officials have pushed for action to defend the country's electricity system and other critical industries, particularly against cyberattacks from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia.

To reduce the risk of cyberattacks from external networks, utility companies and manufacturers often "air gap" their computer systems, meaning they aren't connected to the internet. It is unclear to what extent Norsk Hydro cordoned off its systems.

Mr. Kallevik said the company had to switch some of its operations to "manual," with workers relying on phones and tablets instead of the usual data systems. Staffing has been increased to levels last seen three to five years ago, he said.

--Stu Woo contributed to this article.

Write to Alistair MacDonald at alistair.macdonald@wsj.com and Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 19, 2019 14:01 ET (18:01 GMT)

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