Japanese automaker Honda recently announced that it has been targeted by a cyberattack — an attack which is currently affecting its operations on a global scale. According to recent reports, the issue is currently affecting the company’s ability to access its servers, affecting several of its internal systems. “Work is being undertaken to minimize the impact and to restore the full functionality of production, sales and development activities,” and also added that no data had been breached at this point in time.
The attack began Sunday night and into Monday morning, where hackers targeted Honda with ransomware — a sort of computer malware that locks users out of their own systems unless they pay the attacker to remove it. Specifically, cyberattackers used the “Ekans” malware, a type of ransomware that targets industrial systems used to operate factories. A Reddit user noted, “From what I’ve heard having one close by, they have 1,800 servers and 2,000 workstations infected at just one plant with a recovery time of two hours per server.”
At this point, it’s not immediately clear who attacked Honda’s servers, but the Telegraph points out this is not the first time the automaker has been targeted by hackers.
U.S. workers sent home, unable to access manufacturing plants
As a result of the attack, the Union County Daily Digital, a local news outlet situated around Honda’s Marysville, Ohio assembly plant, noted that its A-shift was sent home when employees couldn’t even enter the building. As cyberattackers infiltrated the company’s network infrastructure, they took to denying door access to normal users.
The company still insists they see a “minimal” business impact from the attack, but are still working to take some of its affected operations back online within the coming hours and days. Apart from the Marysville plant, the company’s announcement confirmed that operations at its Swindon, UK plant as well as those in Italy, Turkey, Japan and other North American facilities. Honda currently employs 220,000 people globally.
