Honda's worldwide operations have reportedly been hindered by a cyber attack

Carmakers are already having a tough time amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, but things have just gotten worse for Honda. The company today revealed that a "cyber attack" has taken place on its network, which has hindered its operations worldwide.

The attack is reportedly the result of an external virus and has affected Honda employees' ability to access computer systems. According to the company, production and operations across various regions -- including the UK, North America, Italy, Japan, and Turkey -- have also been temporarily halted due to the attack.

Even Honda's customer service and financial departments (which are likely working from home now) have struggled to respond to customer queries. Indeed, the company's official Automobile Customer Service Twitter account has pinned the following tweet to briefly describe the situation:

Honda seems hopeful that work will resume soon -- perhaps as early as this afternoon, according to the BBC -- but the exact timeline will probably depend on the nature of this attack, and how far it's already spread.

Reports suggest that the virus could be a form of ransomware, which is often extraordinarily difficult to deal with -- see 2017's WannaCry debacle for evidence of that. Nonetheless, the good news here is that no sensitive data has been obtained by attackers as of writing.