Honda Motor Co plants in Brazil and India have halted operations as the Japanese automaker battles to recover from a cyberattack that affected several factories worldwide.
The cyberattack at the beginning of this week targeted Honda’s internal servers and spread a virus through the company’s systems, a spokeswoman told reporters yesterday.
Motorcycle plants in India and Brazil were still out of action following the attack, while a four-wheel vehicle plant in Turkey resumed operations yesterday, the spokeswoman said.
The firm was “still investigating details,” she said.
In total, the cyberattack affected 11 Honda plants — including five in the US, local media have reported.
All US plants have resumed operations, the spokeswoman said, declining to elaborate further.
She said the suspension would have only a limited effect on Honda’s business globally.
Global automakers, including Honda, have already been hit hard by a slump in sales because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last month, Honda reported a 25.3 percent fall in net profit from the previous year as sales fell 6 percent to ￥14.9 trillion (US$138 billion) in the fiscal year ending in March.
Gaming giant Nintendo Co has also admitted that hackers have breached 300,000 accounts since early April, gaining access to personal information, such as birthdays and e-mail addresses, but not credit card details.
An initial hack in April compromised 160,000 accounts and a further 140,000 breaches have been discovered since then, the Kyoto-based firm said in a statement released late on Tuesday.
“We deeply apologize for causing trouble and worries to customers,” Nintendo said in its statement, pledging to “enhance security ... to prevent this happening again.”
Hackers broke into Nintendo Network IDs, intended for services on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and then migrated to Nintendo Accounts, which can be used for purchases at the company’s official online store.
Fraudulent purchases from hacked Nintendo Accounts represented only a fraction of total sales, the company said, and it vowed to reimburse victims if it had not already done so.
Nintendo has been enjoying a strong showing from its popular Switch console and blockbuster games, including Animal Crossing, with demand fueled by players stuck at home because of the pandemic.
Other industries have seen rising cyberattacks during the outbreak as well.
On Sunday, Singapore Technologies Engineering said that its unit, VT San Antonio Aerospace, has discovered a cybersecurity incident where a group “gained unauthorized access to its IT network and deployed a ransomware attack.”
Last week, ship builder Fincantieri SpA confirmed that servers at its Norwegian unit were infected.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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