B2B organization Schneider Electric is ramping up damage control in the wake of a data hack.

Schneider Electric became the victim of a ransomware attack on Jan. 17, it said. The company is a manufacturer and distributor of digital automation and energy management products and services for homes, buildings, data centers and various other industries

Schneider generates annual revenue of about $37 billion and has operations in 100 countries. The company says hackers breached the sustainability business division. As a result, operations will be offline until resuming on Jan. 31.

Schneider Electric ransomware attack

“From a recovery standpoint, Sustainability Business is performing remediation steps to ensure that business platforms will be restored to a secure environment,” the company says. “Teams are currently evaluating the operational capabilities of impacted systems with the expectation that access will resume in the next two business days.”

Schneider provided limited information on the data breach. It did, however, say the breach impacted some unidentified business records. “From a containment standpoint, as Sustainability Business is an autonomous entity operating its isolated network infrastructure, no other entity within the Schneider Electric group has been affected,” the company says. “From an impact assessment standpoint, the on-going investigation shows that data have been accessed. As more information becomes available, the Sustainability Business division of Schneider Electric will continue the dialogue directly with its impacted customers and will continue to provide information and assistance as relevant,” Schneider Electric also said.

The type of cyber hack used against Schneider was a cactus ransomware, according to trade publication Bleeping Computer. Cactus is a ransomware group that began targeting major companies starting in March 2023. Cactus generally leverages virtual private network devices to gain initial access, according to research firm Avertium and Kroll.

B2B manufacturers previously named cybersecurity as a top priority for 2024 in a survey from consulting firm BDO.

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