Cybersecurity: Toyota’s factories in Japan collapse

Toyota shut down all 14 of its plants in Japan after an attack by one of its most important suppliers.

Toyota is a unique case in the automotive industry as it has a very special supply chain system, which so far seems to work. However, one ransomware attack on one of its suppliers was enough to shut down its production.

The cyber-attack took place at Kojima Industries, a company that supplies Toyota with plastic parts. In general, according to the Japanese newspaper Nikkei, it is a rather small partner of the Japanese car industry, at least in relation to other industries.

However, its importance to Toyota is greater than its size since the automaker can not operate its assembly lines without the parts manufactured by Kojima.

The Kojima incident was the latest episode in a long chain of attacks on computer industry industries around the world.

In July 2008, TMW, another Toyota supplier, was hit, leaking data. In April 2021, Quanta Computer from Taiwan, which manufactures Apple computers, was attacked by ransomware, leaking product plans and other data.

However, the timing of the latest attack has led many analysts to link it to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There are many who believe that a wave of cyberattacks may gradually break out in companies based in the United States, Britain, and the European Union.

However, the point that stands out from the attack on Kojima is that a cyber attack managed to shut down and lead to the collapse of the entire Toyota business network, which consists of 40,000 companies of various sizes. This in itself should be enough for companies to recognize their cyber blind spots and take action to address them.

It is noted that the company has proceeded three times during 2021 to cut its production forecasts.

Read the entire article at in.gr

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest

Other posts