Japan is facing a shortage of Asahi beer and other beverages as the country’s largest drinks producer struggles to recover from a major cyberattack that has disrupted operations for five days.
Asahi Group, best known for its Super Dry beer, Nikka Whisky and a range of non-alcoholic drinks, suspended operations on September 29 after a cyberattack caused a system outage. The disruption halted order processing, shipping and call centre functions.
By Wednesday the company had started manually visiting customers to take handwritten orders, and on Friday it shipped its first batch of products filled by hand. For now, Asahi is only accepting orders for food and soft drinks, holding back on new alcoholic beverage requests to prioritise deliveries already in progress.
Ransomware Confirmed
The company confirmed on Friday evening that ransomware was behind the attack on its servers. It is working with external specialists to restore its systems and hopes to restart call centre operations next week. Asahi has not said when it expects full recovery or how the incident may affect earnings.
The breach is part of a growing wave of cyberattacks against global firms. In recent months Jaguar Land Rover, Marks & Spencer and the Co-op Group in Britain have all suffered serious disruptions.
Impact on Customers
Restaurants and shops in Japan are already feeling the effects. A Tokyo eatery that usually serves only Asahi-branded beer said it was down to its last keg of Super Dry and had to accept rival Sapporo beer from its supplier. Convenience store chains Lawson, FamilyMart and 7-Eleven also reported supply concerns.
Asahi’s share price has dropped by about 4%, reaching its lowest point since February following the announcement of the attack.
