MILLIONS of cyclists and runners across the globe have found their Garmin wearable gadgets are down for a fifth day.
Over the weekend, it was revealed that the lengthy outage is the work of a sinister Russian playboy hacker.
Is Garmin down?
Fitness smartwatch firm Garmin shut down its connected services and call centres on July 23 following what the company called a worldwide outage.
As of Monday, July 27, the outage is ongoing with no end in sight.
Problems affect Garmin services including Garmin Connect, which wearers use to manage and upload data collected by their gadgets.
As a result, wearers cannot record their fitness activities, such as running, cycling or swimming.
“Garmin is currently experiencing an outage that affects Garmin services including Garmin Connect,” the firm said in a statement.
“As a result of the outage, some features and services across these platforms are unavailable to customers.”
Garmin added: “Additionally, our product support call centres are affected by the outage and as a result, we are currently unable to receive any calls, emails or online chats.
“We are working to restore our systems as quickly as possible and apologize for the inconvenience.”
Why is Garmin down?
Garmin has still offered no explanation for the outage.
However, security analysts believe the company has fallen victim to a coordinated cyber attack.
Several Garmin employees have taken to social media to say the company has suffered a ransomware attack, according to ZDNet.
Ransomware is a type of cyber attack that sees hackers take control of computers, tablets or mobile phones remotely and demand a payment.
Those who don’t pay up are locked out of their computers for good.
Often the hackers trick the user into downloading malicious software – using a dodgy email or app – and encrypt the victim’s information.
Who has hacked Garmin?
Experts have suggested that the Garmin outage appears to have coincided with a WastedLocker ransomware attack against the fitness giant.
Sources at Garmin have since confirmed to BleepingComputer that the company has been hit by WastedLocker malware.
WastedLocker is a type of ransomware used by a Russian group of cybercriminals called Evil Corp.
Owned by 33-year-old Russian playboy hacker, Maksim Yakubets.
Mr Yakubets is wanted by the FBI and has been accused of stealing at least $100million since he began his life of cyber crime in 2009.
A $5 million bounty was put on his head in December 2019 by the American authorities as he was named the world’s biggest cyber-criminal.
Western law enforcement alleges Mr Yakubets has actively worked with the Russian Federal Security Service since 2017.
National Crime Agency director Rob Jones has described the lifestyle of Ukrainian-born Mr Yakubets as “flamboyant and extravagant.”
He’s “cash-rich with fast cars” – driving a customised Lamborghini supercar with a personalised number plate and lettering that means ‘Thief’ in Russian.
What is the Garmin ransom?
Ransom demands associated with WastedLocker are usually very pricey.
However, it is unclear if any such demands have been made and suggestions of a ransomware attack are still speculation.
The attack works by encrypting the company’s files and other data, rendering it inaccessible to employees.
Evil Corp have demanded a $10million ransom for the safe return of the data, sources told BleepingComputer.
Screenshots shared by the tech site show Garmin company files encrypted with a ransom note attached.
The note tells the recipients to contact one of two email addresses to “get a price for your data”.
Is my Garmin data safe?
Fortunately, there’s no reason to believe EvilCorps is stealing or sharing the data of Garmin users.
The hack appears to be a coordinated attempt to extort money from Garmin, rather than make cash off of users’ personal information.
However, there’s no guarantee the firm is not also siphoning off user data for use in other hack attacks or ransom demands.
Garmin says it collects personal data including your name, email address, location, text and call data, and other information.
When will Garmin be back online?
There’s no way to know when Garmin services will be back online.
In response to a request for comment from The Sun, a spokesperson confirmed there was no set return date for Garmin’s services.
The company says it is “investigating” the issue and will provide updates as they become available.
Check Garmin’s Twitter account and its outage Q&A page for further updates.
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<h3 class="article-boxout__headline">How to stay safe from hackers</h3>
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<div>- Protect your devices and networks by keeping them up to date: use the latest supported versions, use anti-virus and scan regularly to guard against known malware threats.
- Use multi-factor authentication to reduce the impact of password compromises.
- Tell staff how to report suspected phishing emails, and ensure they feel confident to do so, investigate their reports promptly and thoroughly.
- Set up a security monitoring capability so you are collecting the data that will be needed to analyse network intrusions
- Prevent and detect lateral movement in your organisation’s networks.
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<!--googleon: all-->In other news, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5G smartphone is set to be released on August 7.
A security vulnerability that could let hackers set fire to smartphone fast chargers has been revealed.
And, Apple is planning to load future iPhone cameras with high-powered zoom capabilities, according to one insider.
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