Honda has halted its plants in Brazil and India as the Japanese carmaker battles to recover from a cyber attack that affected several factories worldwide. According to various media reports, the company admitted that the cyber attack has affected its ability to access its computer servers, use email and otherwise make use of its internal systems.
The cyber-attack at the beginning of the week targeted Honda's internal servers and spread a virus through the company's systems. "Honda can confirm that a cyber-attack has taken place on the Honda network. There is also an impact on production systems outside of Japan. Work is being undertaken to minimise the impact and to restore full functionality of production, sales and development activities," Honda said. The company added it was still investigating the details.
In total, the cyber attack affected 11 Honda plants--including five in the US. While the motorcycle plants in India and Brazil were still out of action following the attack, a four-wheel vehicle plant in Turkey and all US plants have resumed operations.
The virus, reportedly a ransomware, has spread throughout Honda's network. However, the company failed to divulge further details. According to TechCrunch, it is most likely to be a Snake ransomware. Snake, like other file-encrypting malware, scrambles files and documents and holds them hostage for a ransom, expected to be paid in cryptocurrency.
However, Honda said there was no evidence to suggest that data had been exfiltrated, a common tactic used by newer forms of ransomware, the report added.
