You hear of cyberattacks that cause businesses to lose money, or render organizations unable to access their critical data, but have you ever heard of a company losing cars because of a cyberattack?
Toyota, the largest auto manufacturer in the world, announced it would be suspending all factory operations in Japan after discovering one of its suppliers was victim to a cyberattack.
Toyota expects to lose around 13,000 cars of production output as a result of the incident.
A spokesperson from Toyota described the alleged attack that hit Kojima Industries as a "supplier system failure." Toyota does not know if the 14 plants it has in Japan will remain closed for more than one day. These plants account for one third of the company's global production, according to NBC News.
Toyota cyberattack tied to Russia?
The timing of this cyberattack is certainly something to note.
Just over the weekend, Japan announced it would be joining Western allies in sanctions against Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. They joined others in blocking Russian banks from accessing the SWIFT payment system, as well as giving $100 million in emergency aid to Ukraine.
No information has been made public about who was behind the attack, but it would not be surprising to learn that Russian threat actors were responsible.
Though, almost every cyberattack that happens during this conflict in Ukraine will have people wondering if Russia was responsible.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the Japanese government would be investigating the situation. "It is difficult to say whether this has anything to do with Russia before making thorough checks," Kishida said.
