Ransomware Attack Halts Operations at Canadian Mining Mill

Following a ransomware attack, Canadian Copper Mountain Mining Corporation (CMMC) last week shut down its plant.

The company, which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, owns the majority of the Copper Mountain mine. The mine, which is in southern British Columbia, generates an annual average output of 100 million pounds of copper equivalent.

In a cyber incident notice on its website, CMMC announced the shutdown of some of its systems, including the mill, after falling victim to a ransomware attack on December 27, 2022.

“The company has isolated operations, switched to manual processes, where possible, and the mill has been preventatively shutdown to determine the effect on its control system,” CMMC said.

The mining firm announced that it implemented risk management systems and protocols immediately after discovering the cyberattack and that the relevant authorities are assisting with the investigation.

“There have been no safety or environmental incidents as a result of the attack,” CMMC said.

The company has not shared information on the type of ransomware used in the attack, nor on how the attackers breached its systems.

According to a BleepingComputer report, however, stolen credentials might have been used for intrusion. Earlier in December, credentials belonging to a CMMC employee account were being offered for sale on a hacker portal.

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