Victim:

Nucor

Attacker/Malware:

Unknown Ransomware

Industry:

Manufacturing

Estimated Cost:

~$20M-50M in losses, ~1-3 days downtime at several mills

Primary Attack Vector:

Likely unpatched Citrix Gateways or phishing

Prevention Failure:

Weak Credentials, Lack of Segmentation

BlastWave Solution:

Network Cloaking, Passwordless Secure Access, and Segmentation

Kill Chain Analysis:

Proactive Containment of Unauthorized Access

In May 2025, Nucor, the largest steel producer in North America, detected unauthorized third-party access to its IT systems. As a precautionary measure, the company halted production at multiple sites to contain the breach.

This incident, while showing proactive defense, highlights the economic consequence of an unsegmented environment: the only safe response to an IT breach is often an expensive OT shutdown.

BlastWave Prevention Analysis:

Maintaining Uptime During Containment

Nucor had to shut down OT to prevent the IT breach from spreading. With BlastWave, the OT network would be logically air-gapped and cloaked. Upon detection of the IT breach, Nucor could have instantly revoked all access policies linking the IT network to the OT network without affecting production.

The OT facilities could continue operating under local control while IT containment and investigation occurred, eliminating the need for a costly operational halt.

Upon detection of the IT breach, Nucor could have instantly revoked all access policies linking the IT network to the OT network without affecting production.

Take the Next Step

Reading about past failures is only useful if it changes future outcomes. If attackers can see your OT network, they can target it. If they can target it, compliance, safety, and uptime are already at risk.

BlastWave eliminates reconnaissance, initial access, and lateral movement — without agents, without downtime, and without changing IPs, protocols, or PLCs.

Secure Your OT Network

Nucor Proactive Shutdown (2025)