There’s now a Clorox cleaning product shortage, thanks to hackers
By Sarah Bregel
Clorox is struggling to meet consumer demand after a recent cyberattack. On Monday, the company said in a security filing that it identified a breach of its IT systems on August 14. It said immediate actions were taken to control the takeover, but some systems had to be taken offline.
In reverting to “manual ordering and processing,” the company has had to reduce operations significantly. While Clorox believes the attack has been contained, some products are now in short supply.
Clorox makes a variety of household bleach and cleaning products, as well as Pine-Sol products, Green Works Cleaning products, Burt’s Bees personal care products, and more. It has not specified which products are not meeting demand.
The company acknowledged that the recent cyberattack and lower product output will impact them financially. Clorox (CLX) shares fell about 2% in early trading. The company said it should begin transitioning to fully automated ordering by next week.
“Clorox has already resumed production at the vast majority of its manufacturing sites and expects the ramp up to full production to occur over time,” the company said. “At this time, the company cannot estimate how long it will take to resume fully normalized operations.”
Clorox said it is too early to make predictions about long-term financial ramifications.
The company is just the latest to experience a cyberattack in recent weeks. MGM Resorts experienced a breach last week, and computer systems remain down. Sources told publications that employee paychecks are late as a result, and the brand could lose as much as $8.4 million a day following the attack.
In a statement last week, hackers who claimed responsibility for the attack announced they still had access to “some of MGM’s infrastructure” and threatened additional attacks for ransom.
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