Volkswagen Resolves Major IT Outage, Restores Global Production Network
FRANKFURT – Volkswagen announced on Thursday that a widespread IT outage that caused production halts across its German plants has been resolved and the company’s global production network is back up and running.
The outage, which began at 1030 GMT on Wednesday and was disclosed later that evening, affected the entire Volkswagen group, including popular brands like Porsche and Audi. This incident sheds light on the vulnerability of network infrastructure at Europe’s largest carmaker.
“The IT infrastructure problems in the Volkswagen network were resolved during the course of the night and the network is stable again,” Volkswagen stated, without revealing specific details about the cause or impact of the outage.
While the company mentioned that an external attack is unlikely to be the cause, it refrained from commenting on the size and scope of the incident, as well as the potential financial implications. Nevertheless, Volkswagen’s shares fell 1.2% following the news.
Volkswagen reassured that affected applications are currently being restarted and the global production network is expected to proceed as planned. However, certain individual systems may still experience issues during a transitional phase.
This incident comes just a month after Toyota, the world’s biggest-selling automaker, experienced a production system malfunction that halted domestic output in Japan.
Volkswagen’s German sites in Wolfsburg, Emden, Osnabrueck, Hanover, Dresden, and Zwickau were all impacted by the outage, along with component factories in Braunschweig, Kassel, Chemnitz, and Salzgitter.
The company stressed that there is no evidence to suggest external influences caused the disruption. However, the event has raised concerns about the safety of infrastructure at Germany’s top corporations. Transport Minister Volker Wissing has called for better protection and emphasized the critical nature of digital infrastructure.
“We need safety systems here that work,” stated Wissing. “It must be clear to everyone that digital infrastructure is critical infrastructure.”
The incident serves as a reminder of the importance of cybersecurity and the need for robust safety measures in today’s digital age.
Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Writing by Miranda Murray; Editing by Kim Coghill, Elaine Hardcastle, and Susan Fenton