Posted on 07/24/2020 10:55:04 AM PDT by higgmeister
Smartwatch and wearables maker Garmin has shut down several of its services on July 23 to deal with a ransomware attack that has encrypted its internal network and some production systems.
The company is currently planning a multi-day maintenance window to deal with the attack's aftermath, which includes shutting down its official website, the Garmin Connect user data-syncing service, Garmin's aviation database services, and even some production lines in Asia.
(Excerpt) Read more at zdnet.com ...
Was this an intentional attack on aircraft navigation?
Here is a duckduckgo search for "Garmin server outage."
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Garmin+server+outage&t=opera&ia=web
more and more cars can use smart phone navigation on the dashboard screen. I wonder if Garmin and TOM TOM will exist in a couple of years. What might save them is the fact that the phone app uses a LOT of data and if you have a cheapo plan with limited data a GPS is still viable.
I’ve long maintained that the computer viruses are created by the same people who sell you the “cures” for them. Please, please, prove me wrong!
Two of the people, who delivered our groceries and other items, this past week were running late, about 2 hours.
Something about not being able to find our home. One actually had to buy a map.
Just checked and my Garmin app on my phone is not working at all. I noticed yesterday that the app was indicating the Garmin site was down for maintenance.
Got the Garmin device charging up while hooked to a usb port. Hope the ransomware doesn’t get transferred to my PC. Guess I’d better disconnect and do a virus scan.
If you don’t hear from me for a few days it will be because my PC has died from the Covid-19 for computers. LOL!
I haven't tried it on my desktop, just my Nexus 7 Android pad and got the message that the server was down like the article said. I don't think it could transfer to the PC as it already would have. Come to think of it, I won't even try it on my PC just in case. You and I don't have the resources to track it down and clean it up like a corporation should have. I suspect they will discover the source file was on their system from even weeks back before it activated yesterday. They might not even have a clean back-up disc to restore from.
I think the big question is, was this a targeted attack against all air traffic considering that most navigational maps are delivered on electronic tablets in this digital age? When will we see a response from the FBI/FAA and the like?
But, in the new age of cybercrime, foreign powers may create computer viruses with no involvement "by the same people who sell you the “cures” for them."
Must only effect gps services. I just logged into Active Captain (owned by Garmin) at that works.
I’ve long maintained that the computer viruses are created by the same people who sell you the “cures” for them. Please, please, prove me wrong!
= = = = = = = = = = = =
Agree, must have went to the same ‘Cynicism’ class in the ‘College of Hard Knocks’.
Problem is that today it is hard to pinpoint cynicism, sarcasm, sardonicism, satire, irony and unbelievable truth.
I was thinking about upgrading to a new Garmin device, I’m not now. I abandoned Fitbit because they suck and got a Garmin fitness tracker, which I’ve been happy with until this weekend, now they’re pissing me off and showing that they can’t handle a crisis. It’s now obvious that their IT department wasn’t doing their basic job, I’ll bet MANY of them will be fired when this thing is over.
Somebody is feeding you excuse. My Garmin GPS is working just fine, it would only be a problem if you were attempting to update it this weekend. It wouldn’t screw up your GPS, it would just fail to update. Even my fitness tracker is working fine, it’s just not updating current info with my phone app. All the functions on the watch are working just fine.
I don’t know what your definition of “a lot of data” is. My phone plan is 2 GB a month and using Garmin Connect, I don’t come anywhere close. My monthly usage is about 400 MB for everything.
As you said, all of my watch functions are working too. Also, I never use the GPS function on my watch, but I would like to track my progress on Garmin Connect Calendar, etc. and it looks like that may out of service for a long time with some data lost forever.
I must say, that a ransomware attack is not a smoke blowing excuse that any company would feed a customer.
In your scenario the Garmin is probably pulling most of the data coming from a satellite. A smartphone using the navigation app without a Garmin or Tom Tom uses a lot of cell data.
What bothers me is that Garmin has yet to give a reason for the outage, all their early messages were “down for maintenance”. Then later on they strongly hinted at a server crash. Word of a ransomware attack has come through the rumor mill (which I would consider pretty reliable at this point; seems like Garmin would deny it if it were just a server crash or other hardware problem).
Oh gotcha, that makes sense.
It's titled "The Cyberattack on Garmin Poses a Complicated Question for the U.S. Government."
https://slate.com/technology/2020/07/garmin-cyberattack-ransomware-payment.html
Or, if you buy a stand-alone GPS, it uses NO data and you can use it anywhere. Very convenient when living in a state that is mostly desert with no cell signal. It’s weird how many people think this is a GPS issue.
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