Hackers attacked TOMRA, the world leader in waste recycling

Norwegian company TOMRA, known as the world leader in recycling technologies, has recently been the victim of a complex and large-scale cyber attack that has affected some of its information systems. The company immediately reported the data breach to the relevant authorities and promptly engaged both internal and external resources to contain and resolve the incident.

One of the main activities of the company is the TOMRA Collection project, which is responsible for the collection, transportation and processing of used beverage containers throughout North America. In addition, TOMRA Collection provides a follow-up mediation between all stakeholders, making a significant contribution to sustainable waste management practices.

“On Sunday morning [16 июля] Our IT team has detected unusual activity in our information systems, indicating an outside attack. We immediately took action and shut down many of our systems to contain and mitigate the situation. We do not yet have a complete understanding of the possible consequences of a cyber attack, ”said TOMRA.

As a result of the outage, TOMRA recognizes the possibility of reduced service stability for its customers and employees. And the most important priority for the company now is the speedy restoration of all systems to full functionality.

Discussing the potential consequences of the attack, the company announced the instability and slowdown of the service, without mentioning the nature of the attack itself and possible data leakage, as well as other negative consequences. It is likely that TOMRA itself is not yet sure how deep the hackers managed to penetrate, so they do not want to make premature statements.

However, the company promised to keep the public informed. As soon as the information is verified, she will immediately “share it with the utmost honesty.”

The TOMRA data breach is not an isolated incident in the industry. Hackers attack recycling companies quite often, although this mostly goes unnoticed against the backdrop of numerous other cases. While these attacks may not make headlines, they are a real and growing threat.

In the last year alone, ransomware attacks on the processing industry have increased by almost 150%. Most of these attacks begin through email phishing to obtain the credentials of employees of such enterprises and launch ransomware infections throughout the corporate network.

In addition to the obvious loss of information and disruption to business as usual, ransomware attacks also have a strong reputational impact. For example, a major data breach or a long system recovery period can ruin the image of even a serious and large company among its customers, suppliers, investors and regulators. This can lead to large financial losses if customers opt out en masse of the hacked company, undermining the value of the brand in the eyes of the public.