Shoppers are seeing shortages of some familiar household products, from cleaners like Clorox and Tilex to Burt’s Bees balms and Glad trash bags, as The Clorox Company tries to recover from a cyberattack it disclosed in August.
The company reported on Monday that, because of the damage the cyberattack caused to its internal systems, it is processing orders at a slower-than-normal rate, in some cases bypassing its automated systems and handling orders manually.
The company said it expects to start transitioning back to normal order processing next week.
Separately, Clorox said it ‘has recently begun to experience an elevated level of consumer product availability issues.’
In addition to its vast collection of household goods, Clorox serves commercial industries, including hospitals, schools and businesses.
Clorox did not say when the operational problems might be resolved, or how long it will take to get its systems back to normal. A representative said the company is seeing availability issues of varying degrees across its portfolio of products, which also include Clorox sanitizing wipes.
Other notable Clorox brands include the Pine-Sol, Formula 409, Liquid-Plumr cleaners, Hidden Valley brand seasonings, Kingsford charcoal, Brita water filters, and Fresh Step cat litter.
The company said that it has resumed production at a vast majority of its manufacturing sites, but it is still repairing infrastructure that was damaged by the cyberattack and reintegrating systems that it took offline in pre-emptive measures.
A Clorox spokesperson declined to share more information on exactly which of the company’s product lines are in short supply as a result of the attack.
The Oakland, California-based company said the product shortages and delays in processing orders will have a ‘material’ effect on its business in its current fiscal quarter, which ends on Sept. 30. Clorox said it’s too soon to tell if the financial effects will last beyond that.
Clorox initially disclosed the breach in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Aug. 14.
It said it’s hired experts and is still investigating the breach.
