Ski-Doo manufacturer restarts operations after cyberattack

After revealing late last week that it has suffered a cyberattack so crippling it had to suspend operations, Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) said it has resumed operations and expects to be fully operational today.

In a statement, BRP – the Valcourt, Quebec-based manufacturer of Ski-Doo snowmobiles and Sea-Doo personal watercraft – said it has begun ramping up production activities in factories across the globe, including Rovaniemi in Finland, Sturtevant in the US, and Gunskirchen in Austria.

The rest of the company’s manufacturing sites are planning to restart operations over the course of the week in a phased approach.

BRP said that it is currently working to restore all internal systems from its back-up repositories. It also confirmed that the malware infiltration came through from a third-party service provider and that the impact was limited to its internal systems.

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“Cybersecurity at BRP is a top priority,” said president and chief executive José Boisjoli. “We have a strong team of experts committed to taking every appropriate measure to ensure the integrity of systems and data. I thank them for all their efforts to mitigate the consequences of the attack.”

The firm said that the ongoing investigation has not revealed any evidence that client information would have been affected by the cyberattack, adding that it anticipates the impact of the incident “from a data privacy perspective” to be limited.

“Should the circumstances change, BRP would directly contact individuals or corporations impacted,” the company said.

The cyber incident occurred after the firm made two major announcements – on August 07, it announced its return to motorcycle manufacturing with two electric engine bikes and on August 09, it unveiled its acquisition of Kongsberg Automotive ASA’s powersports business.