Cyberattack Hits German Battery Maker Varta, Halts Production

German battery maker Varta AG was hit by a cyberattack Monday night that halted production in five of its production facilities, the company said.

The company’s information technology systems “and thus also production were pro-actively temporarily shut down for security reasons and disconnected from the internet,” Varta said in a statement on Tuesday. The extent of the damage is still being reviewed.

Varta said it was deploying an emergency plan intended for such situations and a task force was set up immediately to restore operations as quickly as possible.

Shares of Varta were down 3.6% at the close of European trading on Tuesday.

Photograph: Automotive 12 volt batteries, manufactured by Varta AG, sit before fitting on the Volkswagen AG (VW) automobile production line at the VW factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, on Thursday, March 8, 2018. Photo credit: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg