Brinztech Alert: Bridgestone Confirms Cyberattack is Disrupting Manufacturing

Incident Analysis

Tire giant Bridgestone has confirmed it is investigating a cyberattack that has disrupted the operations of some of its manufacturing facilities in North America. The incident, which came to light on September 2, 2025, has affected production plants in both the United States and Canada. In a statement, Bridgestone Americas (BSA) said its team responded quickly to contain the issue and believes that no customer data was compromised.

The attack on the world’s largest tire manufacturer underscores the growing threat of cyberattacks against critical manufacturing and supply chain operations. While the exact nature of the attack has not been disclosed, the disruption to physical production is a hallmark of ransomware incidents. Bridgestone is now working to mitigate the impact on its supply chain. This is not the first major cybersecurity incident for the company, which was hit by a LockBit ransomware attack in 2022.

Key Cybersecurity Insights

This cyberattack provides several critical insights into the modern threat landscape:

• Direct Impact on Manufacturing and Operational Technology (OT): The most significant aspect of this incident is the direct disruption of physical manufacturing processes. This highlights the increasing trend of cyberattacks that cross the line from the IT (Information Technology) world to the OT (Operational Technology) world, aiming to cause real-world operational shutdowns.
• High Risk of Widespread Supply Chain Disruption: An attack on a global manufacturer as large as Bridgestone can have a significant cascading effect. Production halts can lead to product shortages, impacting everything from automotive assembly lines to consumer tire suppliers and creating a major disruption in the supply chain.
• Repeat Targeting of Major Corporations: This incident demonstrates that even after suffering a major attack (like the 2022 LockBit incident), large corporations remain a prime target for sophisticated threat actors. It underscores the need for continuous vigilance and adaptation in cybersecurity defenses.

Recommendations for Industrial Companies

This incident serves as a critical reminder for all manufacturing and industrial organizations to prioritize the following security measures:

• Prioritize IT/OT Network Segmentation: The most crucial defense against attacks that spread from the corporate network to the factory floor is strong network segmentation. Industrial companies must ensure that a breach on the business IT side cannot easily pivot to disrupt manufacturing and OT systems by creating strict access controls and firewalls between the two environments.
• Develop and Test a Specific OT Incident Response Plan: Standard IT incident response plans are not sufficient for a manufacturing environment. Companies must have a dedicated, tested playbook for responding to a cyberattack that impacts their production lines, including clear procedures for safely shutting down and restoring industrial control systems (ICS).
• Implement Advanced Security Monitoring: To detect and contain an attack “early,” as Bridgestone claims to have done, requires advanced security monitoring. This includes deploying Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) on both IT and OT endpoints and using network traffic analysis to spot anomalous behavior indicative of an intrusion.

Secure Your Organization with Brinztech As a cybersecurity provider, we can protect your business from the threats discussed here. Contact us to learn more about our services.

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