Suspected Supplier Cyberattack Halts Toyota’s Japanese Production
Toyota Motors announced it had suspended all of its Japanese production lines February 28 due to what it called “a system failure” at a major domestic supplier that local news sources say may be due to a cyberattack. Kojima Industries Corp., which supplies components for Toyota vehicles including air conditioning systems, was the source of the system failure, which the Associated Press says prevented its servers from communicating properly with Toyota.
Nikkei Asia cited “an official close to Kojima Industries” who confirmed the malfunction was caused by “some kind of cyberattack,” and said the supplier is still confirming the damage and working to restore Toyota’s production system. Nikkei also reported that the Japanese government and law enforcement are also investigating.
As a result of the disruption, Toyota announced in a company statement it would suspend production for the first two shifts of Tuesday, March 1, at 28 assembly lines in 14 Japanese plants.
“We apologize to our relevant suppliers and customers for any inconvenience this may cause,” Toyota said. “We will also continue to work with our suppliers in strengthening the supply chain and make every effort to deliver vehicles to our customers as soon as possible.”
Toyota affiliates Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor Co. also reported production disruptions due to computer malfunctions.
Nikkei Asia reported the announced Toyota shutdown would affect production of about 13,000 vehicles, 4-5% of the company’s domestic monthly output. In January, the company downgraded the amount of cars it predicted it would be able to manufacture in 2022 to 9 million units from 9.3 million.
