Nichirei Co. Ltd. experienced a cyberattack on Monday that disrupted domestic cold storage and frozen food shipping operations [1], [3].
This disruption threatens the supply chain for one of Japan's largest food companies, potentially leading to product shortages in retail stores and warehouses across the country.
The system failure was discovered at approximately 6:50 a.m. JST on July 13 [1], [4]. A spokesperson for the company's internal systems department said the issue was reported by the systems division at that time [2].
The company said that the disruption was caused by unauthorized access from a third party [3], [5]. The impact is currently limited to Nichirei Logi Group's domestic refrigerated warehouses, and frozen food shipment operations [3]. Nichirei has not received reports of system failures from its overseas locations [4].
There are conflicting reports regarding the security of company data. A Nichirei spokesperson said that the leak of personal information or customer data to the outside has not been confirmed [2]. However, a press release from the company said that personal information may have been leaked externally due to the unauthorized access [5].
Nichirei is currently investigating the detailed cause of the breach and the full extent of the damage [3], [5]. The company has not yet provided a timeline for when full system functionality will be restored.
“The system failure was discovered at approximately 6:50 a.m. JST on July 13”
The attack highlights the vulnerability of critical food infrastructure to cyber threats. Because Nichirei manages both production and the specialized logistics of cold-chain storage, a system failure at the logistics level can create a bottleneck that halts the distribution of perishable goods regardless of production capacity.
