RANSOMWARE Chip Testing Giant Advantest Hit by Ransomware The company is investigating whether any customer or employee data was stolen by hackers. By Eduard Kovacs | February 20, 2026 (4:31 AM ET) Flipboard Reddit Whatsapp Email Japanese chip testing giant Advantest Corporation (TSE: 6857) has been targeted in a ransomware attack. Advantest makes automatic test equipment for the semiconductor industry. It serves major chipmakers such as Intel, Samsung, and TSMC. In a statement published on its website on Thursday, Advantest said it detected an IT network intrusion on February 15 and immediately activated incident response protocols. The company has shared little information about the cybersecurity incident. “Preliminary findings appear to indicate that an unauthorized third party may have gained access to portions of the company’s network and deployed ransomware,” Advantest said. It’s unclear if the attackers exfiltrated any sensitive information from the company. ADVERTISEMENT. SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING. “If our investigation determines that customer or employee data was affected, we will notify impacted persons directly and provide guidance on protective measures,” Advantest noted. No known ransomware group appears to have taken credit for the attack on Advantest. However, given that the intrusion was detected less than one week ago, the threat actor may still be hoping to obtain a ransom from the victim before posting it on a leak website. Learn More at SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience & Recovery Summit It’s not uncommon for threat actors to target the semiconductor industry. Major companies have confirmed being hit by ransomware in recent years, including Nexperia, TSMC, Microchip Technology, and Foxsemicon. The attack on Advantest came just months after the Japanese government issued new operational technology (OT) security guidance for semiconductor factories. Related: Ransomware Groups May Pivot Back to Encryption as Data Theft Tactics Falter Related: SmarterTools Hit by Ransomware via Vulnerability in Its Own Product Related: 42,000 Impacted by Ingram Micro Ransomware Attack WRITTEN BY Eduard Kovacs Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is the managing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher before starting a career in journalism in 2011. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering. More from Eduard Kovacs Cogent Security Raises $42 Million for AI-Driven Vulnerability Management Vulnerabilities in Popular PDF Platforms Allowed Account Takeover, Data Exfiltration CISA: Hackers Exploiting Vulnerability in Product of Taiwan Security Firm TeamT5 Palo Alto Networks to Acquire Koi in Reported $400 Million Transaction Dell RecoverPoint Zero-Day Exploited by Chinese Cyberespionage Group Hackers Offer to Sell Millions of Eurail User Records Man Linked to Phobos Ransomware Arrested in Poland 3 Threat Groups Started Targeting ICS/OT in 2025: Dragos Latest News PromptSpy Android Malware Abuses Gemini AI at Runtime for Persistence French Government Says 1.2 Million Bank Accounts Exposed in Breach Nearly 1 Million User Records Compromised in Figure Data Breach Venice Security Emerges From Stealth With $33M Funding for Privileged Access Management Ivanti Exploitation Surges as Zero-Day Attacks Traced Back to July 2025 OpenClaw Security Issues Continue as SecureClaw Open Source Tool Debuts German Rail Giant Deutsche Bahn Hit by Large-Scale DDoS Attack New Keenadu Android Malware Found on Thousands of Devices TRENDING Vulnerabilities in Popular PDF Platforms Allowed Account Takeover, Data Exfiltration Dell RecoverPoint Zero-Day Exploited by Chinese Cyberespionage Group German Rail Giant Deutsche Bahn Hit by Large-Scale DDoS Attack New Keenadu Android Malware Found on Thousands of Devices Password Managers Vulnerable to Vault Compromise Under Malicious Server 3 Threat Groups Started Targeting ICS/OT in 2025: Dragos Apple Patches iOS Zero-Day Exploited in ‘Extremely Sophisticated Attack’ CISA: Hackers Exploiting Vulnerability in Product of Taiwan Security Firm TeamT5 Daily Briefing Newsletter Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts. Webinar: Identity Under Attack: Why Every Business Must Respond Now February 11, 2026 Attendees will walk away with guidance for how to build robust identity defenses, unify them under a consistent security model, and ensure business operations move quickly without compromise. Register Virtual Event: Ransomware Resilience & Recovery 2026 Summit February 25, 2026 SecurityWeek’s 2026 Ransomware Summit will discuss a roadmap for defending the enterprise, from mitigating root causes to mastering recovery, giving security teams the critical insights needed to navigate and neutralize today’s ransomware extortion threats. Submit PEOPLE ON THE MOVE Yuneeb Khan has been named Chief Financial Officer of KnowBe4, succeeding Bob Reich, who is retiring. Cyera has appointed Brandon Sweeney as President, Shira Azran as Chief Legal Officer and Joseph Iantosca as Chief Financial Officer. Robert Carvajal has been appointed as CISO of BayCare Health System. More People On The Move EXPERT INSIGHTS How to Eliminate the Technical Debt of Insecure AI-Assisted Software Development Developers must view AI as a collaborator to be closely monitored, rather than an autonomous entity to be unleashed. Without such a mindset, crippling tech debt is inevitable. (Matias Madou) Security in the Dark: Recognizing the Signs of Hidden Information Security failures don’t always start with attackers, sometimes they start with missing truth. (Joshua Goldfarb) Living off the AI: The Next Evolution of Attacker Tradecraft Living off the AI isn’t a hypothetical but a natural continuation of the tradecraft we’ve all been defending against, now mapped onto assistants, agents, and MCP. (Etay Maor) Why We Can’t Let AI Take the Wheel of Cyber Defense The fastest way to squander the promise of AI is to mistake automation for assurance, and novelty for resilience. (Steve Durbin) The Upside Down is Real: What Stranger Things Teaches Us About Modern Cybersecurity To all those who are fighting the good fight in the world of cyber, keep collaborating to ensure our world never succumbs to the chaos of the Upside Down. (Nadir Izrael) Flipboard Reddit Whatsapp Email