Boeing says it was hit by WannaCry virus, but it's a 'limited intrusion'

The WannaCry computer virus struck Boeing on Wednesday, but the company says production was not affected by the attack.

Mike VanderWel, chief engineer at Boeing Commercial Airplane production engineering, sent out an urgent memo saying he was concerned about the virus, which was "metastasizing rapidly" and could hit the equipment used to test planes or "spread to airplane software," The Seattle Times reports. Boeing released a statement late Wednesday afternoon saying it determined that a "limited intrusion of malware" affected a "small number of systems. Remediations were applied and this is not a production and delivery issue."

WannaCry targets computers using Windows, and after gaining access to a network, it locks users out until they pay a ransom fee. Mitchell Edwards, a cyberthreat intelligence analyst, told The Seattle Times he couldn't imagine the virus actually threatening software on an aircraft. "The plane would have to have been connected to an infected system," he said. "The chances are pretty minimal."

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