Clorox disclosed it will see a material hit to its first quarter results following a cybersecurity attack that hampered production and led to product shortages.
The company is just the latest in a series of companies likely to see a financial hit due to cyberattacks. Caesars and MGM both had incidents that took systems offline and brought web sites down.
Clorox in a regulatory filing said it had to switch to "manual ordering and processing procedures" after identifying unauthorized activity on its IT systems. Clorox added that it has been operated "at a lower rate of order processing and has recently begun to experience an elevated level of consumer product availability issues."
Indeed, Clorox's website that sells direct to consumers notes that the site is "undergoing system maintenance." Most products on the site are out of stock.
According to Clorox, the cybersecurity incident disrupted systems across the company's operations. In response to the attack, Clorox took its systems offline and expects to switch back to normal automated order processing the week of Sept. 25.
The company said:
"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. At this time, the Company cannot estimate how long it will take to resume fully normalized operations.
Clorox is still evaluating the extent of the financial and business impact. Due to the order processing delays and elevated level of product outages, the Company now believes the impact will be material on Q1 financial results. It is premature for the Company to determine longer-term impact, including fiscal year outlook, given the ongoing recovery."
Clorox will offer more details on the financial hit after it has more visibility.
