Garmin App, Website Faces Outage; Ransomware Attack Suspected

Ransomware attacks are nothing new and we've seen many firms succumbing to it. Reports suggest that Garmin - the wearable and navigation device company - might have been a target of a ransomware attack. The company faced an outage of services on the Garmin app, website, and call centers.

Garmin Outage

Garmin acknowledged that it was facing an outage in a series of tweets from its official Twitter handle. "We are currently experiencing an outage that affects Garmin Connect, and as a result, the Garmin Connect website and mobile app are down at this time," the company said.

The tweets continued to update that the outage also affected its call centers, making it impossible for Garmin to receive any calls, attend emails, or connect via online chats. However, Garmin is yet to confirm if the outage was caused by a ransomware attack.

The Garmin website is was down at the time of writing. "We are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and apologize for this inconvenience," the Garmin website update reads. Among the services that have been affected by the outage include the flyGarmin, Garmin Connect, and Garmin Pilot apps.

We are currently experiencing an outage that affects Garmin Connect, and as a result, the Garmin Connect website and mobile app are down at this time. (1/2)

— Garmin (@Garmin) July 23, 2020

Ransomware attacks have been steadily rising and targeting nearly every firm across the globe. Over the past few years, various companies have been attacked. The 2020 Sophos survey notes 51% of organizations were hit by ransomware attacks in the last year. What makes it worse is that the hackers encrypt the data, making it very difficult to trace them.

Garmin is one of the popular smartwatch brands with a strong user base in India, especially among fitness enthusiasts, hikers, and so on. Known for its navigational technology, Garmin ventured into smartwatches, sweeping its popularity further.

While 2020 has been sluggish for many, Garmin has managed to stay on top, which might have attracted the ransomware attack. For now, it's still not confirmed if its really a ransomware attack and what the hackers want from the company. More updates are expected to follow and maybe an official statement about the outage.