Tire giant Bridgestone has confirmed it is investigating a cyberattack that impacts the operation of manufacturing facilities in North America. Bridgestone doesn’t yet know how bad this is.
Rebecca Moody, Head of Data Research at Comparitech had this comment:
“As our August ransomware roundup report found, manufacturers are facing an increasing number of ransomware attacks (figures rose by 57 percent from July to August). Manufacturers are a prime target for hackers due to the amount of disruption they can cause by encrypting systems–something we’re also seeing with Jaguar Land Rover in the UK. If this is a ransomware attack and Bridgestone hasn’t paid a ransom, it’s likely we’ll see a group claiming the attack in the coming weeks. For example, in the last 24 hours, Scattered Spider has come forward to claim the JLR attack.”
Erich Kron, Security Awareness Advocate at KnowBe4 adds this:
“While every industry is threatened by modern cyberattacks, organizations in time sensitive industries such as manufacturing or healthcare can really suffer when an attack occurs. Even if the attack doesn’t get very far, it is generally wise to shut down or isolate networks or systems before malicious things can spread. This means that even if the actual production systems are not impacted, the manufacturing lines can stop while things are being checked, then must be restarted again, which is not a trivial matter. Even with those challenges, it is much better to be safe than to risk an actual cyberattack, such as ransomware, getting loose within the organization.”
“Organizations that perform time sensitive tasks need to have a good business continuity plan in place that includes recovery and steps to be taken to minimize damage. This is not something you want to be coming up with on the fly during an attack, so planning for it is essential.”
“Since a majority of malware, including ransomware, is spread through modern social engineering attacks such as email phishing, it has never been more critical to have a good human risk management program in place that helps reduce the chances of a human error causing significant problems.”
Paul Bischoff, Consumer Privacy Advocate at Comparitech provided this comment:
“This attack has many of the hallmarks of a ransomware attack, although ransomware hasn’t been confirmed as the culprit yet. Bridgestone suffered a previous ransomware attack in 2022 by LockBit, which would make this the second time that the company fell victim to ransomware. This attack actually disrupted the company’s manufacturing facilities, not just non-essential stuff like communications, sales, and payroll like we see with most attacks. Although Bridgestone says it stopped the attack early, it’s best to assume the worst until the investigation is complete.”
Chris Hauk, Consumer Privacy Champion at Pixel Privacy chimes in with this comment:
“We can expect to continue to see cyber-attacks on companies like this, attacks that aren’t aimed at stealing data but that target their manufacturing facilities. While Bridgestone believes no customer or company data was compromised, Bridgestone customers and employees will still want to stay alert for phishing attempts, as well as possible new accounts opened in their name. Firestone customers should also be on alert, as Firestone is a subsidiary of Bridgestone.”
Bridgestone customers should be prepared for attacks as I totally see that coming. I’m basing that on the fact that Bridgestone doesn’t yet know the extent of this incident. But I am willing to bet that it will be bad.
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This entry was posted on September 4, 2025 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Hacked. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Bridgestone Pwned In Cyberattack
Tire giant Bridgestone has confirmed it is investigating a cyberattack that impacts the operation of manufacturing facilities in North America. Bridgestone doesn’t yet know how bad this is.
Rebecca Moody, Head of Data Research at Comparitech had this comment:
“As our August ransomware roundup report found, manufacturers are facing an increasing number of ransomware attacks (figures rose by 57 percent from July to August). Manufacturers are a prime target for hackers due to the amount of disruption they can cause by encrypting systems–something we’re also seeing with Jaguar Land Rover in the UK. If this is a ransomware attack and Bridgestone hasn’t paid a ransom, it’s likely we’ll see a group claiming the attack in the coming weeks. For example, in the last 24 hours, Scattered Spider has come forward to claim the JLR attack.”
Erich Kron, Security Awareness Advocate at KnowBe4 adds this:
“While every industry is threatened by modern cyberattacks, organizations in time sensitive industries such as manufacturing or healthcare can really suffer when an attack occurs. Even if the attack doesn’t get very far, it is generally wise to shut down or isolate networks or systems before malicious things can spread. This means that even if the actual production systems are not impacted, the manufacturing lines can stop while things are being checked, then must be restarted again, which is not a trivial matter. Even with those challenges, it is much better to be safe than to risk an actual cyberattack, such as ransomware, getting loose within the organization.”
“Organizations that perform time sensitive tasks need to have a good business continuity plan in place that includes recovery and steps to be taken to minimize damage. This is not something you want to be coming up with on the fly during an attack, so planning for it is essential.”
“Since a majority of malware, including ransomware, is spread through modern social engineering attacks such as email phishing, it has never been more critical to have a good human risk management program in place that helps reduce the chances of a human error causing significant problems.”
Paul Bischoff, Consumer Privacy Advocate at Comparitech provided this comment:
“This attack has many of the hallmarks of a ransomware attack, although ransomware hasn’t been confirmed as the culprit yet. Bridgestone suffered a previous ransomware attack in 2022 by LockBit, which would make this the second time that the company fell victim to ransomware. This attack actually disrupted the company’s manufacturing facilities, not just non-essential stuff like communications, sales, and payroll like we see with most attacks. Although Bridgestone says it stopped the attack early, it’s best to assume the worst until the investigation is complete.”
Chris Hauk, Consumer Privacy Champion at Pixel Privacy chimes in with this comment:
“We can expect to continue to see cyber-attacks on companies like this, attacks that aren’t aimed at stealing data but that target their manufacturing facilities. While Bridgestone believes no customer or company data was compromised, Bridgestone customers and employees will still want to stay alert for phishing attempts, as well as possible new accounts opened in their name. Firestone customers should also be on alert, as Firestone is a subsidiary of Bridgestone.”
Bridgestone customers should be prepared for attacks as I totally see that coming. I’m basing that on the fact that Bridgestone doesn’t yet know the extent of this incident. But I am willing to bet that it will be bad.
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This entry was posted on September 4, 2025 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Hacked. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.