Honda, a Japanese automaker, released to the public that a ransomware virus attacked its systems. Honda had to close down production all over the world; they were unable to aces their internal systems. It affected them badly as they were locked out of their computer servers, emails, and website. The company even had to shut down its production and manufacture of motorcycles, cars, generators, and lawnmowers, etc. They said work was being done to restore normalcy and retain full production speeds and minimize the attack. Such a virus is known as Snake ransomware, where hackers take control of the system capabilities and encrypt the data and demand money to get their system back with decryption. This is an example of an online hostage situation. The company said that no data had been breached, and there is no loss of personally identifiable information. Honda has stop production even in countries like Turkey, Italy, and Japan since its whole manufacturing system is down. The team from IT Globally is continually working to resolve the situation, and they hope that the affected sites will go back online later this week. Customers have taken to twitter to share their problems while making online payments or accessing the customer care services website. It is also being reported that the company is not paying its temporary workers while the work is at a halt. Honda employs nearly 220,000 in the workforce across the world, with more than 400 group affiliated companies. Honda took to twitter to explain their situation to the customers and has even pinned a message on their wall for the customers to make them understand the unique position they are in.
It is unknown how hackers were able to breach the Honda system though it is known that during the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a rise among cyber stacks as hackers can easily target audiences into clicking or downloading malware files out of their anxiety of the novel coronavirus. Honda is similar to companies Cognizant, Chubb, and CPI, who were also attacked by ransomware this year.
There has been a rise of about 25% in the past three months. Hence it is essential to keep themselves updated with all the tools, and companies should place protocols and protect themselves using firewalls. The most effective way of protecting yourself from malware and cyber stacks is to educate yourself and for companies to inform the employees while working remotely.
