Japanese car manufacturing giant Nissan is investigating a possible data breach, and is warning customers to be wary of potential scam emails and messages delivering malware.
In a brief notification published on the Nissan Oceania websites, it was said that the Australian and New Zealand Corporation and Financial Services suffered a “cyber incident”.
This division handles distribution, marketing, sales, and services, in the abovementioned countries.
No major disruptions
According to the notification, the details about the incident are scarce, and the company activated its global incident response team to address the issue: “Nissan is working with its global incident response team and relevant stakeholders to investigate the extent of the incident and whether any personal information has been accessed,” it said. Relevant authorities, including the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the New Zealand National Cyber Security Centre have both been notified of the incident.
Even though it’s still unclear if the attackers accessed any sensitive customer data, Nissan is warning its customers to remain vigilant, just in case: “While the extent of the incident is still under investigation, Nissan encourages its customers to be vigilant across their accounts, including looking out for any unusual or scam activities.”
The company did not discuss the type of the attack, or the identity of the threat actors behind it. While the notification suggests this may have been a ransomware attack, the fact that all systems seem to be operating normally suggests otherwise: “Nissan is working to restore its systems as soon as possible and will continue to provide updates by its website available via nissan.com.au and nissan.co.nz,” the company said.
According to BleepingComputer, Nissan’s networks are unaffected, and all vehicle and service queries may be submitted, with no delays expected. Still, the company said “some” dealer systems will be impacted. “Please speak directly to your local Nissan dealer to assist with all vehicle and servicing queries.”
In a response to a request for comment, Nissan Oceania told TechRadar Pro the company has "taken steps to protect our systems and data and will provide further information as soon as possible."
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