Kia and Hyundai are having an IT nightmare as a U.S. systems outage has affected internal and customer-facing services. Reports that Kia denies, meanwhile, suggest that the larger company is embroiled in a ransomware attack worth up to $30 million.
“We are aware of online speculation that Kia is subject to a ransomware attack,” Kia told CarScoops. “At this time, and based on the best and most current information, we can confirm that we have no evidence that Kia or any Kia data is subject to a ransomware attack.”
The service outage is hampering Kia dealers’ ability to order cars and perform some repairs. Owners, meanwhile, were cut off from its UVO mobile application, a premium connected option that allows them to do things like warm up their cars before they get in.
“Kia has been experiencing an extended systems outage since Saturday but can confirm that the UVO app and owner’s portal are now operational,” a Kia spokesperson told CarScoops in a statement. “We anticipate remaining primary customer-facing affected systems will continue to come back online within the next 24-48 hours, with our most critical systems first in line.”
According to Kia dealers who spoke to Automotive News, KDealer, the carmaker’s communications system, went down on Saturday, February 14 and outages lasted several days. That means that ordering new parts and receiving service communications, as well as downloading vehicle software, have all ground to a halt.
Kia has acknowledged the issue and did apologize to its customers for any inconvenience, but so far has provided no reasons for it to the media. Hyundai Motor America, Kia’s sister company, is also facing similar IT outages, though its issues are not having such a big impact on customers.
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Its problems may run deeper, though. On Wednesday, February 17, technology and cybersecurity website BleepingComputer received a note that was allegedly sent to Hyundai Motor America. The ransom note asked for up to 600 Bitcoin ($31 million USD), or 404 bitcoin ($21 million) if they pay within a certain timeframe.
The threat was reportedly sent by ransomware gang DoppelPaymer. That, according to the FBI, is a gang that has been conducting cyberattacks similar to this one since February 2020.
When we reached out for comment, Hyundai Motor America denied that it was the victim of a cyberattack.
“Hyundai Motor America is experiencing an IT outage affecting a limited number of customer-facing systems. Those systems are in the process of coming back online,” a spokesperson said. “We would like to thank our customers for their continued patience. At this time, we can also confirm that we have no evidence of Hyundai Motor America or its data being subject to a ransomware attack.”
