Asahi Group, Japan’s largest brewer, was hit with a severe cyber-attack. This attack required the firm to cease operations at all but a handful of its 30 plants across the country. The attack occurred late last month and it continues to wreak widespread havoc. It touched everything from shipments of beer to the company’s accounting IT systems.
At this time, Asahi is investigating the potential theft of personal information. The company has stated, “As we continue investigating the extent and details of the impact, focusing on the systems targeted in the recent attack, we have identified the possibility that personal information may have been subject to unauthorised data transfer.”
Like many similar events, this one has created a profound disruption. As a consequence of this, there has been an announcement delay for Asahi’s third-quarter financial results. The company expects the announcement to be made more than 45 days after the end of the October to December quarter. Asahi continued, “If the subsequent investigation confirms this, we will promptly notify those impacted. We will take appropriate actions following the laws related to personal information protection.
The cyber-attack was perpetrated by Qilin, a Russia-based ransomware group. They’re infamously known for their focus on large entities such as the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). Even across the Atlantic, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre stated this week that it had seen a record increase in “nationally significant” cyber-attacks in the last year. That’s an average of four of these incidents a week that we experience.
Asahi has suspended production, and this decision puts radical pressure on their operations and supply chain. This decision comes at a particularly auspicious time for the brewing industry. The company promised stakeholders that it would keep them updated as its systems were brought back online.
The attack leaves a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities all corporations are still susceptible to as the cyber threat landscape continues to advance. Asahi is currently busy trying to ameliorate the consequences and protect their organization from future bad actors.