Boeing appears to be the latest target of the WannaCry ransomware, and the company says it has detected only a "limited malware intrusion affecting a small number of systems."
The ransomware hit Boeing on Wednesday night, and Mike VanderWel, a production engineer at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, sent out a note to warn that the intrusion could even affect the plane's software.
WannaCry was first detected in 2017, with Microsoft responding quickly with patches even for unsupported Windows XP. Windows 10 was protected from WannaCry, while Windows 7 proved to be the most vulnerable despite these updates.
WannaCry encrypted system data and demanded money in exchange for the decryption key. If Boeing was indeed affected by WannaCry, it was likely running older versions of Windows without the required security updates enabled. This is quite concerning, given that Microsoft has patched several major vulnerabilities.
In a statement released a few hours ago, Linda Mills, head of Communications for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, claimed that there is no cause for concern and the planes are safe.
However, because nothing has been said about the malware involved in the attack, it has not yet been confirmed whether WannaCry was actually used to encrypt the systems.
Today Boeing reiterated in a Twitter post that only a small number of devices were affected by the attack and that the situation was fixed after the intrusion was detected.
“The various articles that have been published regarding our company being infected by malware are exaggerated and inaccurate. Cybersecurity officials detected a limited malware intrusion that affected a small number of systems. The required remedial measures were implemented immediately and everything is now running smoothly,” said Linda Mills.
