Nichirei resumed normal operations at all domestic locations on July 24 [3] after a cyberattack disabled the company's systems.

As one of Japan's largest frozen food providers, the outage disrupted the supply chain for approximately 5,000 business partners [4]. The restoration of these systems is critical for maintaining the distribution of temperature-sensitive food products across the country.

The system failure began on July 13 [1], leading the company to shut down its networks to prevent further damage. The outage affected the group's entire network of refrigerated warehouses, and food factories across Japan [2].

Nichirei began a phased recovery on July 17 [1]. To restore security, the company said it worked with an external security specialist firm to implement safety measures [6]. These efforts allowed the company to eventually lift restrictions on ordering and delivery systems.

Total system downtime lasted approximately 10 days [5]. The company said the incident was a cyberattack, with reports indicating it was likely ransomware [7].

“We deeply apologize for the great inconvenience and concern we have caused,” Nichirei said in a statement [8].

“The outage disrupted the supply chain for approximately 5,000 business partners.”

This incident highlights the vulnerability of critical food infrastructure to ransomware. Because Nichirei operates a vast network of cold-storage logistics, a system-wide shutdown creates immediate bottlenecks for thousands of downstream vendors, demonstrating how a single point of failure in a logistics giant can impact national food security.