A third of Toyota’s global production (i.e. 14 factories) is at a standstill due to a cyberattack massive which affected one of the main suppliers of the Japanese manufacturer.
Toyota, the new favorite target of hackers?
The supplier concerned is called Kojima Industries. He produces composite and plastic parts for Toyota for many years, particularly for the manufacturer’s hybrid and electric vehicles. According to a Toyota spokesperson, “The event occurred because of a failure of the IT system at the supplier”. The consequences are catastrophic for the Japanese manufacturer, which is forced to close 28 production lines in 14 factories across Japan, starting March 1.
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This is not the first time that hackers have attacked Toyota. The Japanese company is in the process of become a recurring target. The automaker’s systems were compromised at least three times in 2019, including a malware attack in Australia, a data breach of 3.1 million customers in Japan (and possibly Thailand and Vietnam). ), and ransomware that still cost a subsidiary of the group $37 million. Another attack on a US subsidiary was attributed to Russia.
Is Japan’s position in relation to Russia related to this cyberattack?
Car manufacturers are of interest to hackers because they are usually forced to pay a ransom to restart their production lines. Exactly, Toyota isn’t the only automaker to have had to halt production after suffering a cyberattack. In 2020, Honda had to stop manufacturing cars at factories in Ohio and Turkey and cease production of motorcycles in India and South America. In the case of the latest cyberattack on Toyota, no information was immediately given on the identity of the alleged perpetrators.
However, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters that his government would investigate whether Russia was involved. According to him, “it is still too early to say if it has something to do with Russia, so we will carry out thorough checks”. As Japan supports the United States and Western allies in the implementation of financial sanctions imposed on Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine, eyes naturally turn to Moscow.
This new incident will not help Toyota achieve its annual production target of 9 million vehicles. If the shortage of semiconductors already complicates the equation, this cyberattack completely reduces the chances of the Japanese manufacturer to achieve its objectives.