Bassett Furniture says ransomware attack disrupted manufacturing facilities

Virginia-based furniture manufacturer Bassett Furniture said it experienced a ransomware attack that gave hackers access to internal files and forced it to suspend manufacturing operations.

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Bassett Furniture said that on July 10, it identified unauthorised activities in portions of its internal network. The company immediately launched an internal investigation, with assistance from external cyber security experts, to determine the nature and scope of the incident.

It also took steps to contain the incident, including taking affected systems offline and notifying law enforcement about the same.

The furniture manufacturer’s investigation revealed that the threat actor who infiltrated its internal network encrypted certain data files.

“As a result of the Company’s containment measures, which included shutting down some systems, the Company has not been, and, as of the date of this Report is not operating its manufacturing facilities. The Company’s retail stores and e-commerce platform are open, and customers are able to place orders and purchase available merchandise; however, the Company’s ability to fulfill orders is currently impacted,” reads the notice filed with SEC.

“he Company is working to bring the impacted portions of its IT systems back online and implement workarounds for certain offline operations with the aim of reducing disruption to its ability to serve its retail, e-commerce and wholesale customers. At this time, the Company does not believe personal information from consumers was compromised. The Company continues to work diligently to respond to and mitigate the impact from the incident,” Bassett added.

The company said it is still in the process of determining “the full scope, nature and impact of the incident”. Also, it is still not clear whether the incident had any material impact or financial impact on the company’s operations.