Clorox reports production issues after August cyberattack

Cleaning product giant Clorox told regulators on Monday that it is still dealing with production issues following a cyberattack that was announced one month ago.

In regulatory filings with the SEC, the company said the cyberattack “damaged portions of the Company’s IT infrastructure, which caused widescale disruption of Clorox’s operations.”

The company said it implemented business continuity plans and began manual ordering and processing procedures shortly after the incident.. “The Company is operating at a lower rate of order processing and has recently begun to experience an elevated level of consumer product availability issues,” they said.

“Clorox is still evaluating the extent of the financial and business impact. Due to the order processing delays and elevated level of product outages, the Company now believes the impact will be material on Q1 financial results.”

In a statement to Recorded Future News on August 15, the company would not say whether the incident was a ransomware attack but confirmed that it was forced to take systems offline in an effort to contain the attack.

The filing on Monday said Clorox officials are still repairing the infrastructure that was damaged and are “reintegrating the systems that were proactively taken offline.”

They expect normal automated order processing to resume at some point next week. Production has largely resumed at the “vast majority of its manufacturing sites and expects the ramp up to full production to occur over time.”

No hacking group or ransomware gang has taken credit for the attack and Clorox explained that it “believes the unauthorized activity is contained due to the steps the Company has taken to address the incident.”

The company did not respond to requests for comment about whether a ransom was issued or whether one was paid.

In its statement last month, the company said it would only bring systems back online after it had added additional protections and hardening measures.

“We are following our business continuity plans and implementing workarounds where possible,” they said at the time, noting that they were communicating with suppliers and customers about their issues.

Companies rarely acknowledge the financial impact of cyberattacks but when they do, the losses can be staggering. Last month, marine manufacturing firm Brunswick Corporation said a ransomware attack on their systems would cost it “as much as $85 million.” A Canadian bookseller expects to lose more than $50 million following a ransomware attack that limited operations for weeks.

In February, Applied Materials – which provides technology for the semiconductor industry – said during an earnings call that a ransomware attack on one of its suppliers would cost it $250 million in the next quarter. Sun Pharmaceuticals – the fourth-largest specialty generic pharmaceutical company in the world – warned in March that its earnings would be affected by a ransomware attack as well.

Scripps Health, a California-based nonprofit healthcare provider that runs five hospitals and 19 outpatient facilities, said it expected to lose an estimated $106.8 million following a ransomware attack that hit the organization in May 2021.