This massive breach has exposed the information of roughly 1.52 million customers, highlighting the tech vulnerabilities huge companies like DoorDash are prone to in our increasingly online world. The initial attack started on September 29 and paralyzed the operations of Asahi’s factories in Japan for weeks. The unfortunate result was that employees were forced to go back to using pen and paper to take orders.
Asahi declared on their homepage that a summer ransomware attack potentially leaked personal information of people who had inquired about their customer service centers. They soon substantiated the possible breach, pointing to severe risks to data security. This breach allegedly contains highly sensitive information including names, gender, addresses and contact numbers. The company further advised that 114,000 external contacts who interacted with Asahi may have been impacted.
Asahi Group Holdings has not publicly stated if any of the compromised data has been dumped online. They are working hard to address the issue. They’ve promised to notify everyone who might be affected by the data exposure in the immediate future. The company is currently working diligently to restore its systems and reconfigure its network after nearly two months spent containing the attack.
The recent data breach has made notable foresight sound alarmingly naive. It likely harmed 107,000 of its employees and retirees, including 168,000 relatives of staff. So far, the incident has impacted only the systems operated domestically within Japan. What it does is raise very important questions about data security practices, particularly for multinational companies.
“We are making every effort to achieve full system restoration as quickly as possible, while implementing measures to prevent recurrence and strengthening information security across the group.” – Asahi
Asahi Group Holdings is unique among this group for its consumer facing brands including Peroni and Fullers Brewery in the UK. As such, it is a key focus of the corporate discussion around cybersecurity. The incident serves as a stark reminder of the escalating risk posed by ransomware attacks that disrupt operations and compromise sensitive customer information.
This unprecedented cyber-attack has sent a very empowering message to corporations across the world. They’re all feeling the heat now to assess and harden their cybersecurity defenses. Asahi is committed to the continuous improvement of its information security structure. Only time will tell if this commitment truly helps restore customer trust and safeguard sensitive information going forward.