Toyota Australia hit by cyber attack

Toyota Australia has suffered an “attempted cyber attack” that has taken out its email and other online systems.

The carmaker said in a statement that it is still investigating the source of the attack.

“The threat is being managed by our IT department who is working closely with international cyber security experts to get systems up and running again,” the company said.

“At this stage, we believe no private employee or customer data has been accessed.”

The carmaker’s contacts page has been replaced with a message saying that parts of its online systems are “under maintenance”.

“Toyota Australia is currently experiencing technical difficulties which are impacting our Guest Experience Centre, and our website toyota.com.au,” it said.

“As a result, we are currently unreachable via phone or email.”

iTnews, however, was able to reach the company’s experience centre by phone, suggesting that some systems are either being recovered or have been removed as a precaution.

Radio station 3AW, which first reported the attack, said it had started yesterday and could impact "the processing of incoming cars" to Australia.

Update, 6.52pm: Datacom, which supplies IT infrastructure and support services to Toyota Australia, told iTnews that Toyota hosts its own infrastructure, and "does not use Datacom’s cloud platforms or data centres".

Datacom also does not supply security services as part of its outsourcing agreement, but is among the parties offering Toyota Australia support to recover from the attack.

"We provide a range of IT services to Toyota Australia but those do not include cyber security services," a spokesperson said.

"That said, we have been providing every assistance to Toyota (including from our cyber security group) to help Toyota teams to address this incident."