ELLWANGEN (dpa-AFX) - Production at battery manufacturer Varta is still at a standstill following a hacker attack. A spokesperson for the company from Ellwangen in Baden-Württemberg told the German press agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur on Wednesday afternoon. The five production sites, three of which are in Germany and one each in Romania and Indonesia, are affected. The same applies to the administration.

Varta announced on Tuesday evening that parts of its IT systems had been the target of a cyber attack. As a result, the company had shut down the IT systems and thus also production itself for security reasons. The extent of the damage has not yet been specified. The spokesperson was initially unable to say when production would restart.

The company was recently in the red. Varta was forced to restructure in the spring of last year and announced the elimination of around 800 jobs worldwide as part of a cost-cutting program./rwi/DP/jha