The cyber criminals responsible for disrupting high-street banks and the foreign currency exchange chain Travelex for over three weeks have launched another cyber attack on a German automotive parts supplier.

Gedia Automotive Group, which employs 4,300 people worldwide and recorded an annual turnover of approximately £505m in 2017, has invoked emergency plans to ensure production of parts continues.

A criminal group has taken responsibility for the attack and is threatening to publish data it procured after encrypting Gedia’s database with the file-encrypting malware. The automotive group failed to get in touch and pay the ransom to have the data decrypted.

The attack could have a crippling effect not only on Gedia’s own operations, but also on their customers worldwide. In view of the scale of the attack, the automotive company decided to shut down IT systems, call in external experts and send staff home.

“A massive cyber attack was carried out on the headquarters of the Gedia Automotive Group in Attendorn at the beginning of this week,” said a company spokesman. “After discovery and investigation, an immediate system shutdown was decided by the management. This action was taken to prevent a complete breakdown of the IT infrastructure.”

The Sodinokibi hacking group attacked Travelex’s computer systems on New Year’s Eve, forcing the company to turn off its computer systems worldwide.

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