Toyota Cyberattack: Production Will Restart In Japan After An Attack On Kojima Industries

There is no information as to who was behind the attack, nor the motives. This came just after Japan joined Western allies in pushing Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine, although it was unclear whether the attack was linked.

Cybersecurity is emerging as a key area of concern in Japan, where government critics say responses to hacking threats have been hampered by a broken approach: an attack on a hitherto unknown supplier was enough to put one of the world’s most powerful manufacturers in the world. stagnation.

of Toyota (TM) The production lines will be re-launched in its 14 factories across the country on Wednesday, a statement said. Tuesday’s suspension hit the production of about 13,000 cars.

Kojima Industries, which supplies plastic parts and electronic components to the automaker, said it found an error in one of its file servers on Saturday night. After restarting the server, he confirmed that he was infected with a virus, and found a threatening message, said in a separate statement.

The statement was written in English, Kojima’s spokesman told Reuters, but declined to give further details.

The failure of the Kojima system meant that the supplier was unable to send parts, forcibly Toyota (TM)which does not store components in its factories to stop production, a Toyota spokesman said.

The highest level

Government ministers said they were closely following the incident. While large companies have cybersecurity measures, the government is worried about small or medium-sized subcontractors, Industry Minister Koichi Hagiuda told reporters on Tuesday.

Reports of the use of powerful Emotet malware have increased since the first week of February, according to the Japanese Emergency Response Team / Coordination Center, which provides information on cybersecurity.

Emotet is used to gain access to a victim’s computer before downloading additional malicious software, such as one used to steal bank passwords or ransom software that can lock a computer until a blackmail fee is paid.

It was not clear whether Emotet was used by Toyota. Toyota declined to comment on whether it found early signs of a potential cyber attack or whether Emotet was responsible for paralyzing its operation.

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Kojima only supplies Toyota and is a top-tier supplier for some parts and a second-tier supplier for others, a Kojima spokesman said. Toyota’s operations in Japan cover a supply chain of 60,000 companies on four levels.

Toyota has said it will be able to resume operations by joining a backup network between it and the supplier. It will take a week or two for the system to fully recover, it said.

In November 2020, Japanese video game maker Capcom, which produces games, including Resident Evil, said the ransomware attack may have compromised the personal information of up to 350,000 gamers and some of its own financial data has been stolen.

Honda motor (HMC) stopped part of the production of cars and motorcycles worldwide in June 2020 after an alleged cyber attack.

Shares of Toyota ended unchanged on Tuesday, falling 1.2% on the wider market.