In the wake of a cyberattack last week, Tokyo-headquartered Nichirei Corp has resumed operations at cold storage warehouses in Japan that were subject to supply chain disruptions. In addition to being the nation’s leading operator of public refrigerated warehouses, Nichirei is a major manufacturer of frozen food products.
Unauthorized intrusion into the company’s computer system impacted frozen product shipments and inbound and outbound operations that affected deliveries to thousands of customers across the retail, foodservice, food manufacturing and e-commerce business sectors throughout Japan. Among companies affected by product shortages and delivery delays were KFC Japan, Aeon, Kura Sushi, Hotto Motto, Yayoi Ken, and TableMark.
According to NHK World-Japan, a hacker group known as RansomHouse has declared responsibility for the cyberattack. S&J Solutions, a security firm, reported that RansomHouse posted a statement on a dark website on July 21 claiming that it had stolen some internal data.
“Since the day the incident occurred, we have taken measures to disconnect the systems used by the Nichirei Group, established an emergency response headquarters, and have proceeded with investigations and countermeasures in cooperation with an external cybersecurity specialist firm …We are continuing to investigate the cause of this incident and the full scope of its impact,” the company stated in a post at its website.
During a press conference last Friday following a cabinet meeting, Japan Agriculture Minister Norikazu Suzuki stated: “We will continue to closely monitor the situation to ensure that operations resume smoothly and the supply of food products recovers.”
Impact on Financial Results
The extent of financial fallout of the cyberattack on the company’s consolidated results is currently under assessment. Should any material impact be identified, Nichirei intends to promptly disclose such information prior its scheduled August 7 meeting to announce financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year ending December 31.
