Update ivm cyberaanval en uitstel kwartaalupdate
X-FAB on track to resume production after cyber attack
Investor Relations, NEWS, Tessenderlo, Belgium, July 13, 2020.
X-FAB Group, whose IT systems and production lines were stopped to prevent damage following the cyber attack on July 5, resumed production at one of its manufacturing sites. All other sites will follow within a week's time frame from now.
The majority of X-FAB's customers and business partners was notified of the event. X-FAB does not expect a major impact on its business. Most orders are foreseen to be executed within the third quarter, only some deliveries may have to be shifted to the fourth quarter after close alignment with the respective customers. In response to the production stop after the cyber attack, X-FAB had pulled forward the two-week fab shutdowns initially planned to take place later in the third quarter as part of its COVID-19 cost-saving initiative. After a detailed check, X-FAB does not anticipate damage to the work in progress caused by the sudden stop of its production lines.
Investigations meanwhile revealed that it was a so-called Maze ransomware attack. This type of attack is generally known for demanding a ransom for decryption of data as well as for misusing data.
The financial impact of the cyber attack is not expected to be material. There will be an additional investment to improve IT security. Together with external cyber security experts, X-FAB worked out a strategy to gradually and safely resume all systems while making the company's IT infrastructure more robust and secure going forward.
X-FAB's priority now is to resume production at all manufacturing sites. All other IT related systems will follow. Under these circumstances, the publication of the second quarter results initially planned for July 30 will be postponed to August 27, 2020.