Top iPhone Supplier in Taiwan Recovers from WannaCry Infection

A top iPhone supplier in Taiwan was recently hit by WannaCry attack, from which the company has reportedly recovered…

Leading iPhone supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), as per recent reports, has managed to recover from an attack by the devastating ransomware. The attack has impacted the company’s fabrication tools and also phone shipments, thus causing some loss.

Threatpost reports- “A top iPhone supplier, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), has recovered from a WannaCry ransomware infection that impacted the majority of its fabrication tools. The incident could delay mobile phone shipments during the pre-holiday Fall rush, and reduce revenue for Taiwan’s largest company.”

The outbreak happened on August 3 and TSMC managed to contain the problem and find a solution. In a notice posted on August 5, TSMC explains- “TSMC today provided an update on the Company’s computer virus outbreak on the evening of August 3, which affected a number of computer systems and fab tools in Taiwan. The degree of infection varied by fab. TSMC contained the problem and found a solution. As of 14:00 Taiwan time, about 80% of the company’s impacted tools have been recovered, and the Company expects full recovery on August 6.”

The TSMC notice also details the impact of the attack- “TSMC expects this incident to cause shipment delays and additional costs. We estimate the impact to third quarter revenue to be about three percent, and impact to gross margin to be about one percentage point. The Company is confident shipments delayed in third quarter will be recovered in the fourth quarter 2018, and maintains its forecast of high single-digit revenue growth for 2018 in U.S. dollars given on July 19, 2018.”

TSMC has notified customers of this event and also started working closely with them on their delivery schedule.

TSMC has stated that the ransomware outbreak happened “…due to misoperation during the software installation process for a new tool, which caused a virus to spread once the tool was connected to the Company’s computer network. ”

It has also been clarified that data integrity has not been affected in any way. Confidential information too was not compromised and steps were taken “…to close this security gap and further strengthen security measures.”

Reports say that TSMC maintains that the ransomware attack it faced was not at all a targeted attack, but one that happened due to negligence on its part, as a result of a lack of appropriate virus scanning. It reportedly is something that happened because of human error than a typical hacking incident.

WannaCry, it should be remembered, hit headlines in May 2017, when it spread fast all across the world infecting computers in large numbers in over 150 countries across the globe and causing great damages to many organizations and businesses. The TSMC incident, however, is a small thing and has already been contained, according to reports.