Garmin suffers major outage, ransomware attack suspected

The threat of ransomware attacks has not slowed down one bit in this global pandemic. If anything, cyberattacks have increased at an alarming rate, and businesses are especially paying the price. This is something that GPS fitness technology company Garmin has discovered firsthand after suffering a major outage that may well have been caused by a ransomware attack. In a series of tweets dated July 23, the company said the following:

While the company has been tight-lipped about the cause, outside sources have indicated that ransomware is to blame. ZDNet reported that employees were blowing the whistle online that a ransomware strain called WastedLocker. Catalin Cimpanu, who wrote the ZDNet report, stated that there has been no independent confirmation on WastedLocker being the culprit. However, ransomware is very much the likely cause. Garmin had still not fully restored service as of earlier today.

Comments from industry executives further bolster the ransomware theory. In a report for Kaspersky Lab’s Threatpost, Tara Seals quoted an email from Saryu Nayyar, CEO at Gurucul, which states the following:

A likely ransomware attack taking down pretty much everything Garmin – website, call center, email, chat, production systems and data-syncing service. You just don’t know when the bad guys are going to attack and who will be their next victim. However, what we do know is every organization is susceptible to ransomware attacks… Hopefully, Garmin has a daily backup regimen for the company’s systems and data — that’s table stakes.

As this suspected Garmin ransomware case involves the data of numerous customers, anyone who uses Garmin products should be on the lookout for suspicious activity. Data stolen in these incidents can be used for social engineering and identity theft campaigns. If there are any significant developments, these will be reported as soon as information is available.

Featured image: Garmin

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