Ransomware attacks have evolved into one of the most disruptive cybersecurity threats facing businesses, capable of bringing entire organizations to a standstill within hours. Even companies with sophisticated technology infrastructures remain vulnerable, as attackers increasingly target critical systems that support customer services, communications, and day-to-day operations. The Garmin incident underscores how a single ransomware attack can cascade across multiple digital platforms, disrupting both consumer-facing services and internal business functions simultaneously.
While the primary objective of ransomware is often financial extortion, not every attack carries the same level of risk. Some ransomware variants focus solely on encrypting systems, while others also steal sensitive data before demanding payment. Understanding these distinctions—and maintaining resilient backup and recovery strategies—has become an essential component of modern cybersecurity planning.
Garmin is the latest company to have every one of its online assets taken down by ransomware (Garmin Connect, Garmin Dive, Garmin Golf, Garmin Coach, flyGarmin, vivofit jr., ConnectIQ, Live Track, Strava, Workouts, Third Party Sync). In this case, the culprit was WastedLocker, which is good because WastedLocker hasn’t yet evolved to add the ability to steal data; it can only encrypt it. This means a smart well executed backup strategy can recover the data.
Here’s a brief excerpt on the topic from a TechCrunch article:
Garmin has said little about the incident so far. A banner on its website reads: “We are currently experiencing an outage that affects Garmin.com and Garmin Connect. This outage also affects our call centers, and we are currently unable to receive any calls, emails or online chats. We are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and apologize for this inconvenience.” In a brief update on Saturday, Garmin said it had “no indication that this outage has affected your data, including activity, payment or other personal information.”
The two sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to speak to the press, told TechCrunch that Garmin was trying to bring its network back online after the ransomware attack. One of the sources confirmed that the WastedLocker ransomware was to blame for the outage.
One other news outlet appeared to confirm that the outage was caused by WastedLocker.
The Garmin ransomware incident demonstrates that business continuity depends as much on preparation as it does on prevention. Even organizations with strong security programs can become victims, making comprehensive backup, disaster recovery, and incident response plans critical to minimizing operational disruption. When ransomware is limited to encrypting data rather than exfiltrating it, organizations with well-maintained backups are often in a much stronger position to recover without paying a ransom.
As ransomware attacks continue to grow in frequency and sophistication, businesses must view cyber resilience as an ongoing operational priority rather than simply an IT responsibility. Investments in employee training, layered security controls, continuous monitoring, and recovery planning will remain essential for reducing the impact of future attacks.
Overview by Tim Sloane, VP, Payments Innovation at Mercator Advisory Group
