Car rental giant Sixt hit by cyberattack, customers should expect delays – TechCrunch

German car rental giant Sixt has confirmed it was hit by a cyberattack that caused widespread disruption to its global operations.

According A declaration of Sixt, which has more than 2,000 sites in more than 110 countries, the company first detected “computer irregularities” on April 29, before later confirming the cyberattack and containing it at an “early stage”. . Sixt did not specify the type of cyberattack suffered, but said it had launched an investigation with internal and external experts.

“Access to computer systems was immediately restricted and pre-planned recovery processes were initiated,” Sixt said. “Many of Sixt’s core systems, in particular the website and applications, have been kept in working order. As a result, impacts on the business, its operations and services have been minimized to ensure business continuity for customers. .

While Sixt says the impact to its global operations has been limited, the company noted on Monday that temporary disruptions affecting certain areas of the business, including customer service, are “likely to occur in the short term”.

These problems seem to persist. TechCrunch attempted to call Sixt’s US and UK reservations lines, but the two appeared to be disconnected at the time of writing, and reports on social media suggest customers were left without assistance after rental car breakdown. According German mediaseveral Sixt branches in Germany were also forced to process the majority of bookings manually using pen and paper.

TechCrunch asked Sixt if it could confirm whether the incident was the result of ransomware, but the company declined to answer our questions. The company also declined to say whether customer or employee data was accessed during the intrusion, whether it has the means to detect whether there was malicious access and whether it had notified the relevant authorities.