Plant production still on hold for German battery manufacturer after cyberattack

Nearly two weeks after detecting a cyberattack on its systems, German battery manufacturer Varta AG still has not restarted production at its plants.

In a statement on Thursday, the company said: “There is currently no reliable information on how long it will take to process and resolve the attack or on when production at all five global production sites… will be fully operational. However, the first parts of the plants are expected to start up again next week.”

The plants are located in Germany, Romania and Indonesia.

The company makes a wide range of batteries and storage products for household and industrial purposes, including lithium-ion miniaturized batteries and power banks. It had revenues of approximately $873 million in 2022.

The company first detected a cyberattack on its systems on February 12, releasing a statement the following day that “IT systems and thus also production were proactively shut down temporarily for security reasons and disconnected from the internet.”

On its website, the company warns customers that “emails sent to us between 12 and 18 February have been lost.”

A “task force” is working with analysts and forensic experts on “step-by-step testing and recommissioning of the systems,” they said Thursday.

“It is now clear that the cyberattack was carried out by an organised group of hackers who managed to break through the high security standards of VARTA's IT systems with a high level of criminal energy,” the statement said.

“The authorities have been informed and the police have formally started an investigation… The amount of the possible damage and the extent to which it is covered by insurance is part of the ongoing investigation.”

According to the statement, processes that don’t rely on the company’s network — namely “maintenance, servicing and preparatory work” — can begin, meaning that orders will be ready for processing when production restarts.