Toyota Halts Production in 14 Japanese Factories Following a Potential Cyberattack

Joseph Henry, Tech Times 28 February 2022, 09:02 pm

Toyota has stopped all operations in its 14 domestic plants after an alleged cyberattack hit the automaker on Tuesday, March 1. According to the latest report, the recent closure will result in a loss of around 13,000 cars of output in total.

Toyota Cyberattack Prompts Factory Shutdown

Toyota Halts Production in 14 Japanese Factories Following a Potential Cyberattack

(Photo : Christina Telep from Unsplash)
Japanese automaker Toyota has stopped all operations on its domestic plants after a cyberattack took place earlier this week.

According to a report by Reuters, Toyota suffered from an unexpected breach that affected the supplier of electronic components and plastic parts.

As of press time, neither Toyota nor the authorities have any lead about the motive behind the huge cyberattack. There was also no trace of clue to the possible identity of the suspect for the case.

Apparently, the cyberattack took place just after Japan denounced Russia's actions regarding its invasion of Ukraine. The country was one of many nations in the world that "financially" sanctioned Russia. However, there's no indication that this decision was connected to the data breach that occurred in Toyota.

As for the investigation of this incident, Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan said that the government will now investigate this matter to see if Russia has a potential connection with it.

"It is difficult to say whether this has anything to do with Russia before making thorough checks," Kishida said.

Toyota Cites System Failure About Cyberattack

Kojima Industries Corp. the automaker supplier said that it has indeed suffered from some kind of an attack, as what the spokesperson told the reporters, The Verge reported.

Meanwhile, a Toyota spokesperson said that the incident was a case of a "supplier system failure." Regarding the shutdown of its plants, the firm remained unsure as to how long it will last.

To add, Hino Motors and Daihatsu were also included in the wide-scale closure of Toyota's plants locally.

Aside from the ongoing tension in Ukraine, the global supply chain continues to struggle with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Somehow, this hindered the carmakers when it came to car production.

Moreover, Toyota was also aware of productions that were halted in North America all because of the Canadian trucker protests.

Aside from Toyota, another Japanese company experienced some sort of data breach back then. Panasonic reported that a third party was trying to access its network in November.

According to Tech Times, Panasonic detected unauthorized access. Upon knowing that, it immediately released security countermeasures to combat the potential cyberattack.

The company also requested a specialist to probe the possible leakage that could happen to customers. Apparently, the hackers could steal some confidential information from the people from the storage data of the company.

Outside the cyberattack news, Toyota wants to develop a lunar-exploring car with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The vehicle will be called Lunar Cruiser, per Tech Times.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Joseph Henry