Aviation Databases Reportedly Affected, Unavailable

Over the course of at least the last 48 hours, mighty Garmin, who one might assume would have pretty decent online security, appears to be the victim of a massive ransomware attack, as asserted by a number of computer media publications, that not only took down a number of Garmin consumer functions but apparently fouled up the ability for pilots to update their product databases as well... seriously impeding their ability to operate their aircraft's systems.

According to a number of sources in computer media, Garmin appears to have been compromised by a ransomware attack -- which took out Garmin Connect servers and websites, call centers, and reportedly, some production lines.

Garmin has refused our questions... and apparently taken a silent stance with a number of other media organization, as well... not an unusual situation when the media isn't asking Garmin questions they don't like.

Some of the few bits of info coming out of Garmin came by Twitter, Thursday... 280 characters (or so) at a time. "We are currently experiencing an outage that affects Garmin Connect, and as a result, the Garmin Connect website and mobile app are down at this time. This outage also affects our call centers, and we are currently unable to receive any calls, emails or online chats. We are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and apologize for this inconvenience."

One customer (among many) responded that, "Whatever happened to the premise of Customer Service? A catastrophic failure of whatever kind you've encountered really doesn't explain your subsequent complete failure to communicate to your customers..."

This matter also took down flyGarmin -- Garmin's primary web service hub supporting supporting data and services for a number of its navigation, communication and data systems for thousands of aircraft, worldwide. Pilots reported, online, they have been unable to access and download their Garmin databases -- effectively crippling those pilots with a need for their databases to be in compliance for certain legal flight requirements -- as defined by the FAA or other applicable regulatory agency. The Garmin Pilot app was also reported down, further victimizing the customer base.

How long this situation will go on before completion of all necessary fixes (or payment of the ransom) is unknown, but the manner in which this has been handled has been roundly criticized online, and extensive questions are being raised about the security of Garmin's online operations.

There is also a far more critical question as to whether those attempting to access Garmin servers may also be potentially infected by the ransomware infestation... as some variants are known to do.

More info to follow...

FMI: www.garmin.com