On 21 October, Sopra Steria announced it had detected a cyberattack using a previously unknown version of the Ryuk ransomware.
This attack was rapidly blocked thanks to in-house IT and cybersecurity teams. The measures implemented immediately made it possible to contain the virus to only a limited part of the Group’s infrastructure and to protect its customers and partners.
At this stage, Sopra Steria has not identified any leaked data or damage caused to its customers’ information systems.
The secure remediation plan launched on 26 October is nearly complete. Access has progressively been restored to workstations, R&D and production servers, and in-house tools and applications. Customer connections have also been gradually restored.
During this period, the Group’s priority has been focused on security and working closely with its customers.
The remediation and differing levels of unavailability of the various systems since 21 October is expected to have a gross negative impact on the operating margin of between €40 million and €50 million. The Group’s insurance coverage for cyber risks totals €30 million.
Sales activity for the fourth quarter should not be significantly affected by this event.
After including the items mentioned above, for financial year 2020 Sopra Steria expects to see negative organic revenue growth of between 4.5% and 5.0% (previously “between -2% and -4%”), an operating margin on business activity of around 6.5% (previously “between 6% and 7%”), and free cash flow of between €50 million and €100 million (previously “between €80m and €120m”).