The Clorox Company admits cyberattack causing 'widescale disruption'
(2023/09/19)
- Reference: 1695125708
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/09/19/the_clorox_company_admits_cyber/
- Source link:
The Clorox Company, makers of bleach and other household cleaning products, doesn't expect operations to return to normal until near month end as it combs over "widescale disruption to operations" caused by cyber baddies.
The $2 billion turnover biz, whose sub-brands include Burt's Bees, Formula 409 and Kitchen Bouquet, [1]confirmed a week ago that it had identified unauthorized activity in its network but didn't reveal whether the crooks had exfiltrated data, when it happened, or how long it took to spot them.
Certain unspecified systems were pulled offline "out of an abundance of caution," and some operations were "impaired" as a result.
[2]
In the [3]latest update to the SEC [PDF], the company said it "began manual ordering and processing procedures shortly thereafter at a reduced rate of operations. The company is operating at a lower rate of order processing and has recently begun to experience an elevated level of consumer product availability issues."
[4]
[5]
Clorox does believe the intruders' "activity is contained" however this whole sorry tale is having a considerable financial impact that will be visible in the next set of quarterly results, the company warned.
"The cybersecurity attack damaged portions of the company's IT infrastructure, which caused widescale disruption of Clorox's operations. The company is repairing the infrastructure and is reintegrating the systems that were proactively taken offline," the SEC filing adds.
[6]
A return to normal automated order processing is scheduled for September 25.
[7]Clorox cleans up IT security breach that soaked its biz ops
[8]If scammers use your AI code to rip off victims, the FTC may want a word
[9]Where's the boss? Ah right, thorough deep-dive audit. On the boardroom table. Gotcha
[10]Not so smart after all: A techie's tale of toilet noise horror
"Clorox has already resumed production at the vast majority of its manufacturing sites and expects to fully ramp up to full production to occur over time. At this time, the company cannot estimate how long it will take to resume fully normalized operations."
The extent of the financial and business impact is still under valuation but due to "order processing delays and elevated level of product outages," the forecast is the "impact will be material on Q12 financial results. It is premature for the company to determine longer-term impact."
In fiscal 2023 for Clorox ended June 30, the business reported $7.389 billion in turnover, up on the $7.1 billion in the prior year. It recorded $237 million in profit before tax, down from $607 million. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/15/clorox_cleans_up_security_breach/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZQnFqn@MRFec0upYotXzEgAAARY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0000021076/ae1fd2f2-142b-4a99-bed8-e7bfeb8a2bb7.pdf
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZQnFqn@MRFec0upYotXzEgAAARY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/15/clorox_cleans_up_security_breach/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/22/ftc_ai_fraud_warning/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/09/on_call/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2019/02/22/techies_toilet/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The $2 billion turnover biz, whose sub-brands include Burt's Bees, Formula 409 and Kitchen Bouquet, [1]confirmed a week ago that it had identified unauthorized activity in its network but didn't reveal whether the crooks had exfiltrated data, when it happened, or how long it took to spot them.
Certain unspecified systems were pulled offline "out of an abundance of caution," and some operations were "impaired" as a result.
[2]
In the [3]latest update to the SEC [PDF], the company said it "began manual ordering and processing procedures shortly thereafter at a reduced rate of operations. The company is operating at a lower rate of order processing and has recently begun to experience an elevated level of consumer product availability issues."
[4]
[5]
Clorox does believe the intruders' "activity is contained" however this whole sorry tale is having a considerable financial impact that will be visible in the next set of quarterly results, the company warned.
"The cybersecurity attack damaged portions of the company's IT infrastructure, which caused widescale disruption of Clorox's operations. The company is repairing the infrastructure and is reintegrating the systems that were proactively taken offline," the SEC filing adds.
[6]
A return to normal automated order processing is scheduled for September 25.
[7]Clorox cleans up IT security breach that soaked its biz ops
[8]If scammers use your AI code to rip off victims, the FTC may want a word
[9]Where's the boss? Ah right, thorough deep-dive audit. On the boardroom table. Gotcha
[10]Not so smart after all: A techie's tale of toilet noise horror
"Clorox has already resumed production at the vast majority of its manufacturing sites and expects to fully ramp up to full production to occur over time. At this time, the company cannot estimate how long it will take to resume fully normalized operations."
The extent of the financial and business impact is still under valuation but due to "order processing delays and elevated level of product outages," the forecast is the "impact will be material on Q12 financial results. It is premature for the company to determine longer-term impact."
In fiscal 2023 for Clorox ended June 30, the business reported $7.389 billion in turnover, up on the $7.1 billion in the prior year. It recorded $237 million in profit before tax, down from $607 million. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/15/clorox_cleans_up_security_breach/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZQnFqn@MRFec0upYotXzEgAAARY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0000021076/ae1fd2f2-142b-4a99-bed8-e7bfeb8a2bb7.pdf
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZQnFqn@MRFec0upYotXzEgAAARY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZQnFqn@MRFec0upYotXzEgAAARY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZQnFqn@MRFec0upYotXzEgAAARY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/15/clorox_cleans_up_security_breach/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/22/ftc_ai_fraud_warning/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/09/on_call/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2019/02/22/techies_toilet/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Maybe someday...
cookieMonster
Only after a Geneva Convention that lays out all of the various forms of bullshit governments/businesses are not allowed to sprout related to their failures
Re: Maybe someday...
MyffyW
Regarding cyber crims, perhaps the karma police could pay them a visit?
A bit short on the technical details - what does Clorox run on
Anonymous Coward
[1]The Clorox Company Technology Stack
[2]How Clorox leverages Cloud SIEM across security operations, threat hunting, and IT Ops
[1] https://archive.ph/XdhoS
[2] https://www.sumologic.com/blog/cloud-siem-security-operations-threat-hunting-it-ops/
Kev99
Yup, let's put our business critical, confidential, proprietary, private data out on the 'net (a bunch of holes held together with string) or the cloud (a bunch of holes held together by vapor). IT's perfectly safe. We don't need 256 bit or better encryptions, two factor authentication.What could possibly go wrong?
Maybe someday...
...There will a Geneva Convention that lays out all of the various forms of torture governments are allowed to use against cyber criminals. While I doubt it would do anything to curb the problem at least we could laugh at something as the world burns.