Toyota shuts down 14 Japanese factories
Car-making giant’s country-wide plant closure blamed on cyberattack; Australian repercussions unknownToyota says it will reopen its Japanese factories tomorrow after they were shut down today as a result of cyberattack.
Japanese news outlet Nikkei revealed on Monday evening that Toyota had halted 28 lines at 14 plants – roughly one-third of global production – after a cyberattack on the car-maker’s parts supply management system.
Subsidiaries Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor also paused operations at some plants in Japan on Tuesday.
“Due to a system failure at a domestic supplier (KOJIMA INDUSTRIES CORPORATION), we suspended our operations on all 28 lines at 14 domestic plants in Japan today, Tuesday, March 1,” said Toyota in a statement today.
“However, we have decided to resume all operations from the first shift tomorrow, Wednesday, March 2.
“We would like to apologize again to our customers, suppliers, and other related parties for any inconvenience caused by today's sudden shutdown.
“Working together with our suppliers, we will make every effort to deliver vehicles to our customers as soon as possible.”
According to Nikkei, Kojima Industries – which supplies plastic parts to Toyota – received a message “demanding ransom” and has since confirmed the existence of a virus.
Toyota is still investigating the origin of the cyberattack and the extent of damage caused.
There are suggestions the cyberattack could be linked to the Japanese government’s fresh sanctions on Russia, though Japanese officials have distanced themselves from the speculation.
The Australian ramifications of the shutdowns are unknown at this point in time.
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