One of Caerphilly town’s major employers has suffered a cyber attack, Caerphilly Observer can reveal.

Caerphily Observer understand the company is being held to a ransom by computer hackers

Nuaire, which employs around 500 people, is based on Western Industrial Estate and manufactures ventilation equipment used around the world.

Its email and phone systems have been down since at least last Tuesday with customers unable to contact the firm through usual channels.

Nuaire has explained the outage to customers as a ”technical issue”, although a representative of the firm confirmed it was a result of a cyber attack.

In a statement, Nuaire’s parent company Genuit Group said: “Nuaire recently experienced a technical incident which has caused temporary disruption to some of our systems.

“We are in the process of getting all of our systems back up and running, which we expect will be completed in the next few days.”

He added: “This has unfortunately caused some short-term disruption for our customers and colleagues alike, for which we apologise.”

Staff have been briefed not to speak to the media, with some instructed to stay at home.

When contacted, the privacy watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office told Caerphilly Observer it had not yet been notified by the company of any potential data breach.

Gwent Police’s Cyber Crime Team are yet to receive anything from Nuaire but the force said incidents on this scale are normally dealt with by the likes of the ICO and others.

Nuaire’s 50 years in business

Nuaire, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, manufacture ventilation equipment used in buildings across the world.

Last year the company announced it was looking to double its manufacturing capacity with the promise of more jobs. 

Despite the pandemic, Nuaire said it was “outgrowing” their current site according to managing director, Wayne Glover.

The company is supplying ventilation units for two of the stadiums that will be used at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in Qatar this November and December.