Golfzon hit by ransomware attack

Seen above is a screenshot of Golfzon's homepage, which says its service is now unavailable. Screenshot from Golfzon's homepage

Golfzon has fallen victim to a ransomware attack, causing trouble for its users and franchisees for five consecutive days amid an ongoing server outage.

According to the golf simulator provider, the company has failed to recover its server as of Monday, giving customers only limited access to its homepage and mobile application. The server shutdown is blocking customers from making online reservations to use its facilities.

Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts the victim's files, demanding a ransom be paid for their decryption.

It remains unclear when the company will be able to fully recover this time.

This is not the first time the company has been mired in similar software-related problems. In 2019, Golfzon’s operating system malfunctioned, causing service disruptions for thousands of its franchise stores nationwide for more than two hours. At that time, Golfzon decided to provide compensation of three times the estimated losses for its franchise stores.

A range at an indoor screen golf club is seen in this undated file photo. Yonhap

“We have reported the case to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) and are taking all possible measures for the timely recovery of our server,” a spokesman at Golfzon said. “We cannot say for sure when it will be fully recovered, but we will compensate customers and franchise owners who have suffered losses.”

The company official, however, said customers can still play golf at its affiliated facilities without any problems, even if they have to make reservations by phone.

“Golfzon will focus on resolving the issue at the earliest possible date, and then decide on the scale of compensation for franchise owners and customers,” the spokesman said. “We have not detected any signs of private information leakage.”

Golfzon’s Vietnam stores were also hit by the latest disruption. The company operates some 50 stores there, but its homepage and mobile application for the Vietnam operation were not available, as they use the same server in Korea.

But Golfzon’s other overseas stores were in operation without any problems, as they use different servers that have nothing to do with the latest ransomware attack.

As of the end of September, the number of Golfzon’s franchise stores reached some 1,000 abroad, mostly in Japan, China and the United States.