Garmin services and products were shut down after the company suffered a major ransomware attack.
Garmin services and products were shut down after the company suffered a major ransomware attack.
Garmin is an American multinational technology company specialized in GPS technology for aviation, automotive, outdoor, marine and sport activities
Garmin shared on Twitter, and it's website, that it was undergoing outages with Garmin connect, it's mobile application, along with its website. The outage also affected the call centres, and the company is unable to receive any calls, emails or online chats sent by the users.
According to ZDNet, Garmin had to shut down its official website the Garmin Connect user data-syncing service, Garmin’s aviation database services and even some product lines in Asia.
Garmin Connect service allows its users to track their running performance and bike rides which went down on Thursday.
flyGarmin, one of the Garmins web services that help the company’s line of aviation navigational equipment, was also down. The service is utilized by pilots to download data to navigational systems with up-to-date versions of the database being FAA requirements.
Even though the company hasn't confirmed the attack, ZDNet reports that several employees on Twitter and in interviews claim that the attack used a strain of ransomware called WastedLocker.
The Taiwanese technology site iThome published an internal memo Garmin sent to its departments in Taiwan, warning that its databases and servers had been impacted as a result of a suspected hack and that it's production lines would be shut down for two days.
“However, what we do know is every organization is susceptible to ransomware attacks. So, do what you can to prepare and respond. Hopefully, Garmin has a daily backup regimen for the company’s systems and data, ” said Saryu Nayyar, chief executive officer of unified security and risk analytics company Gurucul Solutions Pvt Ltd A.G.
“Train your people to detect and resist ransomware attacks – just as you patch systems, patch your people with regular, varied, continuous and well-planned security awareness training to make them part of your defences, ” told Colin Bastable, chief executive of security awareness training firm Lucy Security A.
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