Toyota Australia cyber attack: Customers and showrooms unaffected
Australia’s biggest car maker has confirmed its head office has come under a cyber attack but says no customer information has been compromised.
UPDATED
Toyota Australia has confirmed it has been the victim of an attempted cyber attack although it believes no customer data has been accessed.
However, anyone buying a new car that is not already in dealer stock may experience delays in finding the exact model they want. Toyota has temporarily shut off dealer access to the computer system that allows them to see incoming vehicle stock or cars being held by other dealerships.
A dealer source has told CarAdvice they are expecting delays in the delivery of some vehicles until the system is back online.
In a statement issued earlier this week Toyota said: “The threat is being managed by our IT department who is working closely with international cyber security experts to get systems up and running again”.
Toyota says at this stage it has “no further details about the origin of the attack”.
CarAdvice understands the attack occurred on late Tuesday evening and Toyota emails have been out of action since then and are yet to be restored.
Toyota has alerted authorities including Australian Cyber Security Centre, who will investigate further.
In the meantime, Toyota Australia’s IT teams have been working around the clock to get their systems back online, including vital links to dealers and customers service operations.
Toyota has confirmed dealers are unaffected and can keep selling cars.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank customers for their patience,” a statement from Toyota said.
This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling