Search
Close this search box.

Renault/Nissan hit by ransomware attack

14 May, 2017

 


 

“The ransomware was said to have exploited a Windows security weakness, encrypting data on computers and holding it at ransom”

For those of you that haven’t read the news, Friday’s ransomware attack affected tens-of-thousands of computers in almost 100 countries across the world, and reports state that French auto giant Renault became the first major French company to be hit —  an English plant of Renault’s alliance partner Nissan was also hit by the attack. 

Production was stopped of Renault’s European plants as a result of the attack, affecting operation as data on computers was encrypted and held at ransom, according to a Renault spokesman.

A Nissan spokesman has confirmed that their Sunderland, England, plant was affected by the ransomware but wouldn’t confirm whether production was halted as a result. The plant manufactures the Nissan Leaf, Qashqai, Note and Juke as well as the Infiniti Q30 and QX30. 

The ransomware was said to have exploited a Windows security weakness that Microsoft had already released a patch for, however was still able to wreak considerable amounts of havoc on devices which had yet to be updated — a poignant reminder to update your computer, especially if they control production at your vehicle manufacturing plant …Renault has said that proactive measures have now been put in place.

Following this, a Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation into the attack, which covers “Renault and other possible victims,” according to reports.

Almost mythical pony

The Shelby came to our shores in 2003. It went from the original New Zealand owner to an owner in Auckland. Malcolm just happened to be in the right place with the right amount of money in 2018 and a deal was done. Since then, plenty of people have tried to buy it off him. The odometer reads 92,300 miles. From the condition of the car that seems to be correct and only the first time around.
Malcolm’s car is an automatic. It has the 1966 dashboard, the back seat, the rear quarter windows and the scoops funnelling air to the rear brakes.
He even has the original bill of sale from October 1965 in California.

Becoming fond of Fords part two – happy times with Escorts

In part one of this Ford-flavoured trip down memory lane I recalled a sad and instructive episode when I learned my shortcomings as a car tuner, something that tainted my appreciation of Mk2 Ford Escort vans in particular. Prior to that I had a couple of other Ford entanglements of slightly more redeeming merit. There were two Mk1 Escorts I had got my hands on: a 1972 1300 XL belonging to my father and a later, end-of-line, English-assembled 1974 1100, which my partner and I bought from Panmure Motors Ford in Auckland in 1980. Both those cars were the high water mark of my relationship with the Ford Motor Co. I liked the Mk1 Escorts. They were nice, nippy, small cars, particularly the 1300, which handled really well, and had a very precise gearbox for the time.
Images of Jim Richards in the Carney Racing Williment-built Twin Cam Escort and Paul Fahey in the Alan Mann–built Escort FVA often loomed in my imagination when I was driving these Mk1 Escorts — not that I was under any illusion of comparable driving skills, but they had to be having just as much fun as I was steering the basic versions of these projectiles.