back to article Volkswagen stuck in neutral after 'IT disruption'

Some of Volkswagen’s operations have screeched to a halt after some sort of cyber incident, according to German media reports. The event has halted large parts of the car manufacturer's IT and production systems at locations around the globe, according to daily business newspaper Handelsblatt. A VW spokesperson confirmed the …

  1. David 132 Silver badge
    Coat

    Not necessarily ransomware...

    ...it could just be a long-forgotten Bug.

    (sorry.)

  2. Vader

    ITGate maybe, like Dieselgate.

    1. Snake Silver badge

      RE: 'IT disruption'

      "Dear Customers,

      We have had a breach of our IT data systems and are handling the issue as quickly as possible.

      In the meantime, our ability to lie to governments worldwide regarding the safety and operation of your VW or Audi vehicle may be impaired. Please accept our apologies whilst we continue to collect your personal data for future use.

      Best,

      Volkswagen, AG"

  3. Archivist

    Toyota

    They're following the Toyota manufacturing model aren't they?

    1. veti Silver badge

      Re: Toyota

      They're a car maker that's still in business, so I presume so, yeah.

  4. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge
    Facepalm

    "an attack from outside is currently unlikely,"

    Sounds plausible. Given the absolute s**tshow that VW made of the software in my Golf, I can totally believe that they have the ability to stuff things up technologically using their in-house (in)capabilities.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      All VWs computers/production equipment is probably displaying a message about "trying to connect" and preventing anything else being done...

      If they just hold the off button down for 30 seconds it may restart and failing that disconnect the battery for 30 minutes.

    2. Dan 55 Silver badge

      A few links from Mozilla's car survey:

      It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy

      What Data Does My Car Collect About Me and Where Does It Go?

      Volkswagen

      Here's the deal: Privacy at Volkswagen doesn't look very good to us. VW earns all three of our privacy dings for how they use data, for how people can control their data, and for their track record at protecting the data they collect and we could not confirm them meet our Minimum Security Standards. Not good. Our privacy worries are even more concerning when you consider the vast ecosystem of things VW uses to collect your personal information -- from your car, to the Car-Net or We Connect connected services, to the myVW app users can use to interact with the car, to the personal information your VW dealer can collect on you, even during a test drive, to the additional information they can gather or buy on you from outside sources like data brokers, to the inferences they can draw about your when they combine all this data.

      But the company that brought you dieselgate is by no means the worst of them...

      1. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge

        When I was talking about the mess they made of the software in my Golf, and I hadn't even got as far as thinking about the privacy angle...I was thinking about the fact that it exhibited at least two bugs on every single trip (the entire dashboard spontaneously rebooting mid-journey, radio, etc. completely failing to work, display locking up....like I said, an absolute s**tshow

        1. Dan 55 Silver badge

          My Toyota from about 10 years ago reboots the media centre more than I'd like, all it has to do is play music and it can't even manage that without it getting its knickers in a twist. I shudder to think of new cars which absolutely rely on software.

  5. big_D Silver badge

    Rumours...

    The rumours circulating in German IT forums are, that the networking gear licenses ran out and nobody bothered to renew them.

    Rumour has it, that the person who switched from 5 or 10 year licensing for the network gear to annual left the company a few months back and nobody took over the responsibility for the licensing, so when the invoice turned up, nobody countersigned it, so accounting didn't pay, as it hadn't been signed off... The networking gear then stopped working, when the licenses expired...

    When that is the case, big oops!

    1. katrinab Silver badge
      Alert

      Re: Rumours...

      The oops being buying networking gear that can be disabled if licences expire...

      What if the company that sold them goes bust?

      1. Screepy

        Re: Rumours...

        "The oops being buying networking gear that can be disabled if licences expire.."

        All our new Aruba kit (Switches and APs) is subscription license only.

        No other option :(

        It concerns me greatly.

      2. hoola Silver badge

        Re: Rumours...

        Like most stuff that is purchased now.

        So much of the hardware now only provides the most basic of functionality, the rest is all software that needs to be licensed. More recently with the push for everything to be on a subscription that now means that all the funky stuff stops working when the license expires.

        This is more a reflection on how IT is consumed.

    2. theblackhand
      Pint

      Re: Rumours...

      While it wouldn't be the first subscription type service to cause issues, maybe this is the kick that hardware manufacturers need to understand why it's such a terrible model for anything other than their revenue streams...

      Or maybe my beers just half full. Or maybe I forgot to renew the subscription for the other half.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Rumours...

        The hardware companies already know this, why wouldn't they try and maximise profits especially when hardware cycles are getting longer and longer.

        Its the purchasing dept who don't understand why its a bad idea that buy into these deals generally because it less capital outlay. Also purchasing dept also probably didn't take input from IT who would have know its a bad idea.

        1. hoola Silver badge

          Re: Rumours...

          A lot is with the finance directors and if you go further, corporate reporting.

          Capital expenditure is bad because you get peaks and troughs. Subscriptions is what all the pen-pushers and "the markets" want because it is nice an consistent.

          This is for both the manufactures and the purchasers.

          It has not been driven by just one side.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Rumours...

            I'm no accountant but don't you amortise capital expenditure for assets etc to lose the lumpiness? Whether to do so or not then becomes a question of how much income you need to offset in any particular year.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Rumours...

      If this is true, this could also be deliberate on the part of accounting.

      Car manufacturers never played nice with their suppliers. VW being one of the worst offenders, at least after they hired López in '93.

      Post-Corona, getting bills paid on time has become an even bigger issue.

      And the accounting department probably wouldn't know or care about the difference between a supplier of networking gear and a supplier of whatever.

      Anonymous, because I work for a supplier... :-/

      (P.S.: serves them right if it's true)

      1. Strahd Ivarius Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: Rumours...

        Any German accountant caught drinking a Corona should be fired!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Rumours...

        Why get a loan from your bank when you can get a credit (either explicit or implicit by not paying on time) from your suppliers. VW spreading the love

    4. hoola Silver badge

      Re: Rumours...

      And something that happens more often that people admit.

      In the previous place I worked we had a similar issue. For some reason a license for a critical piece of stuff was linked to a real person (I think there was some lunacy that it could not be a shared mailbox blah blah). That person left and because it was a 3 year agreement with 2 years to go, it was overlooked.

      Now when it expires we don't get the reminder (the email address has gone). The automated PoS sending them cannot know that it has gone. Net result some software stopped working for the 2 weeks of arguing to get it re-licensed.

      The vendor refused to relicense because they had someone at our organisation holding an (expired) license. The fact they could not be contacted appear to be an insignificant detail.

  6. s. pam
    Happy

    Must be a Bug in there....

    Somewhere.

    (Sorry couldn't resist)

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Black Helicopters

      Re: Must be a Bug in there....

      Yes, very good. Just like the very first post in this comment section 10 hours or so before you :-)

      Looks like a bug ion a windscreen ----------------->

  7. TomLemaire

    I was at a VW dealership in Massachusetts, USA this afternoon, and they told me they could not do any repairs that required scan codes or parts orders because all their systems were down.

  8. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    "Some of Volkswagen’s operations have screeched to a halt"

    It could be worse. A handbrake turn might have set the lines to run the other way.

  9. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    TITSUP

    Teutonic Industry Totters - Stops, Ultimately - Production

  10. Teejay

    According to posts on heise / reddit, apparently they had forgotten to renew their switch licenses.

    1. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
      Pint

      That happens on BMW's turn signal switches all the time.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Beta testing

    Of anti-emissions software 2.0?

    Too soon?

  12. Jabba
    Alert

    Stably

    Hmm.... Sounds painful, although I'm sure some of the network techs feel stabbed today...

  13. vekkq

    I heard a whisper saying that they forgot to pay the license fees for their switches.

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