Microsoft helping Norsk Hydro restore its IT systems without paying the ransom

• Norsk Hydro reported that experts from Microsoft and other security partners are helping Hydro in getting back its critical IT systems to normal operation.
• The company has already started restoring its IT systems from backups, so it does not intend to pay the ransom amount to the attackers.

What is the issue - Norsk Hydro suffered a cyber attack last week which impacted its operations and IT systems in most of the business areas across the globe.

Why it matters - The ransomware encrypted the production equipment data and disconnected the systems that managed the production equipment from the company’s network. This left Norsk Hydro and its employees unable to manage the equipment.

What’s new - The aluminum giant initially said that its technical team along with external support has detected the root cause of the incident and is working to restart its IT systems. Meanwhile, Jo De Vliegher, Head of Information Systems at Norsk Hydro reported that experts from Microsoft and other security partners are helping Hydro in getting back its critical IT systems to normal operation.

Worth noting - Eivind Kallevik, CFO at Norsk Hydro said that the company has already started restoring its IT systems from backups and that it does not intend to pay the ransom amount to the attackers.

The bottom line - Hydro is working along with the external security partners to ensure that relevant supporting IT-functions such as payroll system, treasury & reporting systems are operational with interim work-around solutions being implemented.

“We are continuing to make progress towards a resolution, but the situation remains serious and we are still dependent on extraordinary measures to run many of our operations. This is particularly challenging within our Extruded Solutions business area, where the implementation of work-around solutions is both challenging and time-consuming,” Kallevik said in the latest update.