Huge aluminium plants hit by cyber-attack

One of the world's biggest aluminium producers has switched to manual operations at its smelting facilities following a cyber-attack, reports BBC.

Hydro, which employs more than 35,000 people in 40 countries, says the attack began on Monday night and is ongoing.

A spokesman told the BBC that he could not yet confirm what type of cyber-attack the Norwegian firm was facing, or who was behind it. The company's website is currently down and it is posting updates to Facebook.

"IT systems in most business areas are impacted," the firm said.

Hydro told the BBC that digital systems at its smelting plants were programmemed to ensure machinery worked efficiently.

However, these systems had had to be turned off.

Smelting operations in Norway, Qatar and Brazil had been affected, according to the Reuters news agency. Additionally, Hydro had shut down some of its smaller metal extrusion plants.