Honda operations temporarily disrupted by cyberattack

Japanese car manufacturer Honda was hit Monday night by a cyberattack that temporarily affected production, a spokesperson for the company told The Hill. 

The spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday that Honda had “experienced a cyberattack that has affected production operations at some U.S. plants.”

The spokesperson added that the cyberattack had not caused a data breach, and that Honda had “resumed production in most plants and are currently working toward the return to production of our auto and engine plants in Ohio.”

Honda further told BBC News that the incident had temporarily halted production at manufacturing plants in the United Kingdom, Italy, and Turkey, adding that the “virus had spread” throughout its network. 

Honda Automobile Customer Service tweeted Monday that “at this time Honda Customer Service and Honda Financial Services are experiencing technical difficulties and are unavailable. We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and understanding.”

According to BBC News, some experts have speculated that the attack may have involved ransomware, a common type of attack that involves hackers locking a network and demanding payment to give users access again. 

These types of attacks have spread across the U.S. over the past year, hitting city governments, school districts, libraries and other groups.

Health care and research organizations involved in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic have also been increasingly targeted by ransomware attacks, as cyberattacks have spiked during the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

-Updated at 1:45 p.m.