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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

#91

Post by nradov »

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.

Most Garmin wearable devices can be configured to auto update. If the servers are online they will download new firmware via WiFi or Bluetooth and then install automatically. You can disable that feature.

Re: Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

#92

Post by jdechko »

nradov wrote: post #89
jdechko wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you run, but you don’t post it to strava, did you even run? /s

Well you can still manually upload the FIT file to Strava.

Of course. And workouts can be manually synced to the device with usb. As others have mentioned, the devices are fairly robust with offline support.

Re: Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

#94

Post by nradov »

nanidin wrote: post #50
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.

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.

Garmin does already sell one smart watch containing an LTE cellular modem and is supposed to release another one later this year. LTE is an extra cost option, like with the Apple watch.

Re: Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

#95

Post by patja »

mattmaroon wrote: post #36

I guess I always assumed Garmin made most of their money on their aviation products, since they are so dominant and so expensive. And those are designed to rarely if ever connect to the internet. But I guess I was pretty off on that, they’re only 20%. On a side note the graphs of their revenues per year and by category show a company that successfully branched out when their former big category, automotive, which was…

My small sailboat has over $5k in Garmin navigation electronics. I love that whenever I've had a problem I can almost immediately reach a knowledgeable and helpful support employee in Kansas (I think?) to help me.

Re: Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

#97

Post by sn_master »

codethics wrote: post #76
9nGQluzmnq3M wrote: post #47

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.

Can confirm it is a ransomware attack.

Source? Do you work there? Do you know whats the ransomware used or how much they're demanding?

Re: Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

#98

Post by iamacyborg »

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…

> My Forerunner 935 is basically the same story today. I can't do anything on it via the mobile apps.

I also have a 935.

Today I've so far recorded two activities. I can see my heart rate, and RHR for the last 7 days, I can see my training status (including VO2 max, lactate threshold, etc), I can see footsteps taken today and over the last 7 days, I can see my calendar, I can see my calorie burn today and over the last 7 days and I can see details about activities recorded on the device all the way back to December 18th.

The device isn't at all crippled.

Re: Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

#99

Post by Lio »

paozac wrote: post #9
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…

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.

Depends on the product. Something like an Edge bike computer will be fine at least.

Although I do wonder if my ride this morning actually happened because it's not on Strava... :P

Re: Garmin services and production go down after ransomware attack

#100

Post by jagermo »

Molpot wrote: post #19
barbegal wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can just get the activity files off the watch via USB if that would work for you. https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=Ht3ZP52Kju075uKvqTqu99...

Thanks but it doesn't, I want a watch to keep track of my swimming training, I'm afraid using USB connectors would make the watch less waterproof.

try the garmin swim 2. I gave one to a coworker to try and he was really frustrated that he couldn't break it. it just kept on going, counting his strokes and all. He tried several different wearables (cheap to expensive) and he said, nothing could come close to the swim 2
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