Kia Motors America denies that the company has suffered a ransomware attack. An earlier report fro Bleeping Computers claimed the business was facing a potential $20 million extortion payment.
A few days after the ransomware rumors surfaced, Kia Motors America told Motor1.com:
"We are aware of online speculation that Kia is subject to a ransomware attack. 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 ransomware rumor surfaced after Kia is suffering an IT outage that affected the company' mobile UVO Link apps, phone services, payment systems, owner's portal, and internal sites used by dealerships.
DoppelPaymer Ransomware: Earlier Warnings
Early chatter about the Kia outage involved DoppelPaymer ransomware.
Webroot, an OpenText company, listed DoppelPaymer among the nastiest malware of 2020.
The FBI issued a DoppelPaymer warning in 2020, after the ransomware surfaced in 2o19. DoppelPaymer ransomware attack victims include the City of Torrance, California; hackers allegedly stole more than 200 GB of files from the city in early 2020.
Trend Micro offers this overview of how DoppelPaymer ransomware attacks typically work.
