Industrial Automation Magazine India

Honda production halted after cyberattack, recovery in progress

Published on : Saturday 13-06-2020

The attack disrupted internal servers forcing the company to halt production at some plants around the world.

Global auto major Honda suffered a cyberattack earlier this week and is said to be in recovery mode now. The company confirmed that a cyberattack has disrupted its internal network and forced a temporary suspension of production and vehicle shipments at some of its factories around the world. The incident affected Honda's internal systems rendering them ineffective, halting email services and blocking access to servers, according to company officials. One of its internal servers was targeted from the outside and an infection spread throughout its network. Among the plants affected were those in the US, Turkey, India, and Brazil. While a few have resumed operations, the rest would also commence production soon. Japanese operations were not affected in the incident. The company is taking steps to minimise impact and restore its production, sales, and development.

The disruption came even as the company had shut some offices and plants and let staff work from home due to the coronavirus pandemic. Honda had resumed its US operations early last month and was in the process of starting other plants since. According to the company there’s no indication of an information breach and the impact on business will be minimal. But this latest attack is a grim reminder of the perpetual threat of potential cyberattacks on businesses and the need for an active cybersecurity policy.