Reckitt Benckiser to lose $117 million in Goldeneye attack

Consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser Group confirmed on June 27 that it was hit by Goldenye and will suffer major losses to 2017 revenue after the attack affected production at some factories and distribution across markets.

“Although we are working round the clock to minimize the impact on customers and suppliers, we do anticipate that some markets will experience delays in shipping and invoicing,” Reckitt Benckiser wrote. “We hope to be in a position to resolve this as soon as possible and in the interim we ask that if you have any questions, you reach out to your normal RB contact for more information.”

For the second quarter of 2017, revenue is estimated to be 2 percent lower, while the total expected loss for 2017 is of 1 percent, or approximately $117 million.

“We have made good progress in getting key applications and systems back on track so we can start trading normally with all our customers and partners,” the company said.

“We believe this issue has now been materially contained, and we continue to work with our IT partners to resolve remaining outstanding items. [Subsidiary] Mead Johnson’s systems have not been impacted by the attack.”

The initial infection vector that triggered Goldeneye was a compromised update in tax software MeDOC used by a number of institutions in Ukraine. The ransomware campaign had a devastating impact on multiple infrastructures, including shipping terminals and giants FedEx, Mondelez International and Beiersdorf. While some staff had to work on their mobile phones, Beiersdorf estimates damage worth millions of euros.