Cyberattack disrupts Asahi beer production in Japan

On September 29, Japanese group Asahi, which produces and exports beer globally, announced a system failure caused by a cyberattack that has affected its operations in Japan for several weeks. Due to this attack, Asahi suspended all orders and shipments to companies, as well as its telephone support services in Japan.

After detecting the incident, Asahi conducted an investigation into what had happened. Through this investigation, on October 3, it was discovered that the servers had been the target of a ransomware attack.

The Qilin ransomware group claimed responsibility for the attack on Asahi on October 7 by posting 29 images on its website that the group claimed belonged to Asahi's internal documents. This cybercriminal group operates a ransomware-as-a-service platform that allows users to carry out attacks in exchange for a percentage of the profits obtained through extortion. In its publication, Qilin claimed to have stolen more than 9,300 files and 27 gigabytes of data.

Days later, on October 14, during the investigation of the incident, Asahi announced that certain personal information may have been compromised as a result of an unauthorized data transfer. Asahi announced that, if this leak is confirmed, it will notify the individuals affected and take the necessary measures in accordance with applicable personal data protection legislation.