Last week, many fitness enthusiasts were left in disarray when their beloved Garmin Connect apps would not sync their workouts to the internet and instead, they were simply greeted with a message that the system was offline for maintenance. An issue that is still being rectified through many of their services around the globe. If the workout is not recorded and posted online, can you say it really happened?
Garmin has now released an official press statement confirming that the company was indeed the victim of an attack, though they didn’t specify too many details on what type of attack it was and whether they had to pay any amount of money if it was a rumoured ransomware hack. However, the company did reiterate that their consumer data was kept safe in the process:
We have no indication that any customer data, including payment information from Garmin Pay, was accessed, lost or stolen. Additionally, the functionality of Garmin products was not affected, other than the ability to access online services. Affected systems are being restored and we expect to return to normal operation over the next few days.
The company is still restoring those systems and even if everything will return to normal, the lack of security around what might have led to the initial breach and the discomfort customers may still have around the potential theft of data, is likely to have an impact on the company. Over time, Garmin is expected to divulge more details about exactly what happened as they work to restore that trust with consumers. And social media will once again be flooded with maps of people and their workout routines. Discovery has also announced that they will honour any Vitality points that have been earned during this time that are not synced.
Last Updated: July 29, 2020
