Volkswagen production restarted after IT halt: attack is “unlikely” cause

Volkswagen (VW) resumed production of vehicles after an IT incident brought some plants to a standstill, German media reports. While the cause of the problem in the company’s networks is unclear, an attack is unlikely, representatives say.

On the evening of Wednesday, 27th of September, a large part of Volkswagen’s IT and production systems around the globe went offline, effectively halting production.

VW’s spokesman confirmed to the Handelsblatt that an IT disruption of network components at the Wolfsburg location affected component plants in many sites, including some for Audi and Porsche. Also, “the entire trading network was shut down.”

Production resumed on Thursday morning, after the company fixed the IT malfunction, reported heise.de.

The IT infrastructure problems in the company’s network were resolved during the night, and the network is stable again, Volkswagen informed.

There are no signs that external influences caused the disruptions. “According to the current state of analysis, an external attack is unlikely to be the reason for the system malfunction,” the spokeswoman shared.

Volkswagen confirmed to Cybernews that production is back to normal across brands and regions.

“The IT infrastructure problems in the Volkswagen network were resolved, and the network is stable again. The affected IT applications in production were successfully put back into operation. Individual systems may still be affected in a transition phase,” the comment reads.

Volkswagen is one of the world's largest vehicle manufacturers and sellers, present in over 140 markets. The company produces vehicles at 29 locations in 12 countries, with the brand employing more than 170,000 employees.

The automotive sector is susceptible to stoppages stemming from IT problems. One of the world’s largest car producers, Toyota, had to suspend production on all 14 domestic assembly plants on August 28th due to insufficient server storage space, which occurred after maintenance works.

VW itself has experienced cybersecurity incidents before. In 2021, a data breach affected 3 million customers, leaking their personal information. The company was targeted by ransomware group Conti attacks.