Japan may soon experience a shortage of Asahi beer following a cyberattack that crippled the beverage producer’s operations. In a statement released on Monday, the Asahi Group confirmed that order processing, shipments, and call center functions had been halted due to the system disruptions, which are confined to Japan.
The company has initiated a manual order processing system, as noted in an updated announcement made today. However, orders placed through their automated systems and large-scale shipments are still on hold. Asahi reported that it was the victim of a ransomware attack but declined to disclose further details to safeguard against additional harm. A timeline for restoring the systems has yet to be provided.
In their notice regarding the system outages, Asahi stated, “We took immediate action to contain and respond to the incident.” Subsequent investigations have discovered indications of a potential unauthorized data transfer. The company is currently conducting an investigation to ascertain the extent and details of any information that may have been compromised.
The Financial Times reported on Thursday that major retailers across Japan warned of a potential depletion of stocks of Asahi Super Dry, the country’s top-selling beer, by this weekend if supply chain issues remain unresolved.
