Honda Battles Ransomware
Honda, one of the largest vehicle manufacturers in the world, was hit by a ransomware attack on Monday, June 8th. News of the attack came after Honda tweeted a message informing the public that Honda Customer and Financial Services were experiencing technical difficulties and were currently unavailable. This ransomware attack disrupted Honda’s global operations, including factory operations. In a statement to The Verge, Honda said “There is no current evidence of loss of personally identifiable information… we have resumed production in most plants and are currently working toward the return to production of our auto and engine plants in Ohio.”
The virus that attacked Honda is known as “Snake” ransomware. An article by Zach Whittaker from TechCrunch explained that this kind of ransomware “scrambles files and documents and holds them hostage for a ransom, expected to be paid in cryptocurrency.” Although Honda worked to contain the attack and continue business as usual, many business processes that relied on those systems were impacted.
In a statement provided to Popular Mechanics, Honda denies that any of its data was successfully exfiltrated and that the attack had not presented any evidence of loss of personally identifiable information.
A cybersecurity firm, Sophos, released a survey in May 2020 stating that “51% of organizations have suffered at the whims of a ransomware attack over the past twelve months, with cybercriminals managing to encrypt company data in 73% of these cases.” As a result of COVID-19, the remote workforce has increased significantly which leaves companies, like Honda, uniquely vulnerable to attacks. Oz Alashe, chief executive for CybSafe, said, “The coronavirus pandemic has created a sizable remote workforce which has increased businesses’ attack surfaces and heightened existing vulnerabilities. Organizations of all sizes should prioritize and adapt their cybersecurity strategies to reflect how their employees now work.”
Although Honda has put its best foot forward trying to minimize the effect of this attack, it is likely that Honda will have trouble making a swift recovery. With the attack happening during this challenging time, there is already financial pressure from coronavirus and reduced demand for its goods.
Chris Kennedy, CISO at AttackIQ suggests that as the ransomware threat continues to increase, companies should ensure they are prepared for a possible attack. “Ransomware is a tremendously growing threat. More powerful variants and strains are constantly emerging, and there are more capabilities for it to be remotely (and confidentially) managed the best way to defend against ransomware is readiness and timely response.”
Trinsio will help you develop a plan to ensure your data is protected. As a Rubrik strategic partner, Trinsio offers great protection for your company. All applications and data ingested by Rubrik technology are stored in an immutable manner. Once ingested, no external or internal operation can modify the data. With more than 30+ years of experience in the cloud, data center colocation, and communications, Trinsio can provide you with a solution you can trust.
This ransomware attack on Honda was not the first and definitely will not be the last, so make sure you are prepared.