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Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

zdnet.com

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Re: Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

#41

Post by rightbyte »

wil421 wrote: post #35
rightbyte wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having your gps time-out on you might be lethal. Imagine an hypothetical auto update bricking all gps devices in the group on a mountain top or the sea and relying on a compass and map if you were smart enought to bring it. Not having a gps makes many endouvers just that much more risky. Edit: made it clear it is a hypothetical scenario

Does Garmin or any other GPS vendors have auto-update? Most of my wearables require me to confirm the incoming update (scheduled at night while charging) or I have to plug it into my computer.

I hope not it was a hypothetical scenario of IoT gps:es. But I mean if the fridge or cat feeder can brick it self ...

Re: Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

#42

Post by codethics »

TheWindUpPirate wrote: post #21

I wonder what the root cause is? They've just tweeted that the outage is also affecting call centres and their ability to receive email. [0] I'm glad their stuff is designed with zero connectivity in mind. Just slightly irked that my history isn't cached on my phone. [0] - https://twitter.com/GarminUK/status/1286279863217926144

Ransomware.

Re: Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

#43

Post by pantaloony »

Molpot wrote: post #12

Has anybody tried to reverse engineer garmin's bluetooth protocols? I often want to buy one of their smartwatches but the idea of having to install proprietary software on my phone kind of puts me off. I'd love to write my own software but I don't have any experience doing bluetooth RE.

IIRC they have a library you can drop in a mobile app to talk to their watches. At least they did a few years ago.

Re: Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

#44

Post by reportgunner »

lxgr wrote: post #11
amelius wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course there isn't any guarantee that at some point, some marketing manager won't decide to break that.

How could that happen for an existing, standalone device? (Assuming there aren't any time bombs waiting in the code only to be fixed by a firmware update, like the GPS week number epoch rollover, of course.)

They stop manufacturing it, the parts it needs and then they wait for your standalone device to stop working.

Re: Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

#45

Post by quest88 »

exabrial wrote: post #6

Their products are designed to work offline. Despite the cloud being down I have full local functionality right now. (Though I can't see my history, surprised they don't cache that locally). Last year when I did a 9-day canoe trip with no cell phone reception, all of my Garmin gear worked flawlessly (wearables, navigation devices, and their offline map app). Can't say the same about my friends iWatches/fitbits or eve…

FYI for anyone else reading: Google maps lets you download maps for offline use.

Re: Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

#46

Post by LeifCarrotson »

christoph wrote: post #38
paozac wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they? Last Garmin product I had was a Vivosmart HR: an internet connection and a Garmin connect account was required to change basic settings such as the display orientation. And there was no way to disable syncing.

My Forerunner 935 is basically the same story today. I can't do anything on it via the mobile apps. I guess I probably could do something with their desktop app and the USB cable, but it's really struck me how crippled the device seems today with their servers down, basically nothing is available or works at all through either Garmin Connect or ConnectIQ mobile apps. The apps don't appear to have any recent data cach…

I'd consider my Forerunner 220 almost completely un-crippled. I went for a run this morning, tracked it and got pace and distance information the whole time. If I look at my wrist, it tells me correctly that the time is currently 9:49 AM. If I unlock the device and scroll to the History tab, my run, and all previous runs since last September and their details are visible there. It acquires the GPS satellites the same as it always has. If I push the start button, it starts a new run.

It's true that I can't open my phone or PC and view past activities, but that's a very small part of the way I use my watch.

What are you doing with the mobile apps that makes your watch crippled without the Connect apps?

Re: Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

#47

Post by 9nGQluzmnq3M »

A leaked email from Garmin's Taiwan office says everything including the production line has been shut down for two days: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https...

Local media suspects a ransomware attack, which is about the only thing that could explain how widespread this is.

Re: Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

#50

Post by nanidin »

amelius wrote: post #7
somecommit wrote: post #4

I precisely like garmin watches because if you don't setup their bluetooth, you are not tracked by anyone, it's not required to connect to servers etc... It's enough for me because I only need to check BPM.

Of course there isn't any guarantee that at some point, some marketing manager won't decide to break that.

It seems unlikely, Garmin is a very engineering led company. At least it was when I worked there 10 years ago!

Part of that engineering focus is an insane attention to the BOM, and to support(call center) and warranty (returns & repairs) costs. I think both of these things make it unlikely that Garmin will add a cellular modem to start tracking otherwise unconnected devices.

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