Cyberattack Halts Asahi Operations, Fuels Shortages

Asahi Group said a cyberattack — reported as a possible ransomware incident — forced its Japanese systems offline, halting order, shipment and call‑center operations and bringing most of its roughly 30 domestic factories to a standstill. The company has begun limited manual order processing but system-based orders and wide‑scale shipments remain suspended with no timeline for full recovery, and investigators are probing traces that suggest a potential unauthorized data transfer while Asahi says there is no confirmed large‑scale customer data leak and that the problem is limited to domestic operations. Major retailers including Seven & i/7‑Eleven, FamilyMart and Lawson warned customers that Asahi Super Dry and other items, including bottled teas, Mitsuya Cider and private‑label products, could become scarce within days, prompting some restaurants and stores to seek alternative brands. Security experts say the attackers appear to have penetrated logistics and ordering systems — deeper than office networks — and the outage has knocked about 12% off Asahi’s share price as the company pauses product launches. Investigations and recovery efforts are ongoing, and retailers are stocking alternatives to mitigate shortages.