Following a cyber attack on Kojima Industries, a major supplier of plastic parts, Toyota has decided to shut down its plants in Japan on Tuesday. The automaker is yet to decide whether it will be able to resume normal activities on Wednesday.
A Toyota spokesman said: “Due to a system failure at a domestic supplier (Kojima Industries ), we have decided to suspend the operation of 28 lines at 14 plants in Japan on Tuesday, March 1 (both first and second shifts). We apologise to our relevant suppliers and customers for any inconvenience this may cause.”
Reuters noted that the attack comes just after Japan joined Western allies in clamping down on Russia after it invaded Ukraine, however, it was not clear if the attack was at all related.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida commented on the issue telling reporters that “It is difficult to say whether this has anything to do with Russia before making thorough checks,”
Toyota affiliates, Hino Motors and Daihatsu have also shutdown as well. The plants in Japan account for a third of the company’s global production. Estimates show that a one-day shutdown of Toyota’s plants would affect the production of 10,000 cars, some 5% of the monthly output from the automaker’s Japanese factories.
A source close to Kojima Industries told Asia Nikkei, the publication that first reported the story, “It is true that we have been hit by some kind of cyber attack. We are still confirming the damage and we are hurrying to respond, with the top priority of resuming Toyota’s production system as soon as possible.”