Garmin, I know it wasn't your choice, but your system was attacked at the worst possible time and shut down for maintenance

Just Wednesday, I lost one of the company's connected golf watches when a round of ransomware attacks crippled the GPS company's air service, mobile app, and some production lines

Well, I didn't lose it myself My father lost it It became my responsibility to attempt to retrieve the sports watch that was forgotten on the hood of a Nissan Titan and tossed out somewhere on the road between my driveway and a golf course 10 miles away

If you're reading this, I'm sorry I threw you under the bus, Dad

My father and I both recognized that finding the lost watch was an impossible accomplishment But I love my father, so I had to try

After formulating a mental list of possible routes to take, as one of Garmin's GPS devices does, checking the time and place of the watch's last sync seemed my best chance

However, when I opened the Garmin Connect app, which allows users of Garmin fitness trackers and sports watches to sync activities and manage health metrics, a system maintenance message appeared

I assumed that maintenance was a common occurrence, but the timing was not right But customer service was also down

My father and I decided to retrace our steps to the Links by foot and car This was another futile attempt, but we had no more options My father admitted that his watch was missing, but I decided to try the Garmin Connect again this morning

Once again, the website displayed a maintenance message As part of my morning newsgathering, I learned from ZDNet that the outage was not routine, but the result of a ransomware attack that took down Garmin's internal network

Garmin has not officially confirmed the cause of the system outage, but ZDNet has confirmed that several Garmin employees have mentioned the ransomware attack on social media

ZDNet also reported that iThome, a Taiwanese news site, published an internal memo sent from Garmin's IT department to its factory in Taiwan According to the memo, the company is considering a two-day maintenance

It is unclear whether Garmin's entire service catalog will be unavailable for the next two days, or whether the several-day maintenance outage will apply only to the overseas factory As of this morning, the Garmin Connect app is still down

If you use a Garmin sports watch or fitness tracker, it appears you will have to be patient for the time being Your wearable will still monitor your activity, but you won't be able to sync metrics or change certain settings until the app comes back online

The GPS on the Garmin watch should also work in the interim, but it still cannot sync with the app If it were possible, I might be able to see when my father's golf watch was last in cellular range