Innovative Ammo Manufacturer Shut Down to Ransomware Attacks

Bermite Ammo Mfg announced today that it would miss delivery
of the next batch of its new carbon-composite 155mm artillery shells to the US
Army because of a ransomware attack on its facility in Saugus, CA. “We have
experienced a ransomware attack on the IT systems at our Saugus facility, so we
have shut down all of our cyber systems pending resolution of the problem,” Patrick
Lizza, corporate spokesperson told reporters; “Our production control systems
were not directly affected by the ransomware, but we are doing detailed checks
of those systems out of an abundance of caution.”

The Army Ammunition Command reports that they are aware of
the shutdown and have coordinated with Cyber Command for assistance in
investigating the problem. LTC Henry Knox, from AAC, told reporters at a press
conference in St Louis, MO: “We are concerned about any delay in the manufacture
at BAM since their new carbon composite 155mm artillery shells allow us to free
up additional ammunition for shipment to Ukraine as the Army replaces their
conventional shells with the lighter, more powerful BAM shells.”

Bermite had met all Army cybersecurity requirements for
primary manufacturers, so the Cyber Command is concerned that this may
represent a more effective ransomware attack. Cyber Command has employed
investigators from Dragonfire Cyber to look specifically at the industrial
control systems on the site to see if they were impacted. “Dragonfire has
specific experience in incident response in the type of equipment utilized at
BAM, Knox told reporters; “Cyber command will look at the ransomware issue, and
Dragonfire will clear the control systems.”

A technician with Dragonfire that is not authorized to talk
to the press about the investigation told me that there were some indications
of unusual activity between corporate IT systems and the control systems at the
facility. “Investigators are still looking to see if any changes had been made
in device programming or security settings,” she said.

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