Volkswagen (VW) manufacturing operations in Germany faced a significant disruption due to a cyberattack that targeted its IT infrastructure. Suspicions have arisen, pointing towards proactive Russian hackers, possibly in response to Germany’s vocal support for Ukraine and its reduced reliance on oil and energy exports. This incident has raised concerns about the potential for a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack in the near future.
According to the business publication Handelsblatt, the cyberattack has had a noticeable impact on car production, particularly at VW factories in Osnabruck, Zwickau, Dresden, and Emden. However, Volkswagen, known for its robust business continuity planning, is expected to recover from this incident within a matter of hours.
It’s worth noting that the cyberattack also affected Volkswagen’s subsidiary, Audi, as their email services were disrupted.
This incident bears a resemblance to a similar event in 2021 when Volkswagen fell victim to a data breach, allowing hackers to pilfer data associated with three million consumers. Additionally, a few months prior to this cyberattack, Level One Robotics, a company that supplies commercial robots to the German automaker, suffered a digital assault that exposed sensitive information not only about the victim but also other automakers.
It’s important to highlight that Volkswagen, the electric vehicle manufacturer at the center of this incident, has not officially confirmed the cyberattack. According to a Twitter update, the tech disruption may have been caused by an IT outage stemming from a potential misconfiguration error.
