Toyota suspending Japanese production after suspected cyberattack on supplier

Kojima Industries server system suffered malfunction

Toyota will idle all of its production lines in Japan on Tuesday after one of its suppliers was shut down by a suspected cyberattack.

"Due to a system failure at a domestic supplier (KOJIMA INDUSTRIES CORPORATION), we have decided to suspend the operation of 28 lines at 14 plants in Japan on Tuesday, March 1st (both 1st and 2nd shifts). We apologize to our relevant suppliers and customers for any inconvenience this may cause," the automaker said in a news release.

"We will also continue to work with our suppliers in strengthening the supply chain and make every effort to deliver vehicles to our customers as soon as possible."

Kojima said an error was detected in its computer server system and suspected the issue was due to a cyberattack, which has left the system unable to monitor production and communicate with Toyota.

"This has never happened before," Takayama said. "We are not sure yet if it is a cyberattack, but we suspect it might be one."

Kojima supplies Toyota with a number of plastic and electronic components.

Approximately 13,000 vehicles will not be built as a result of the production suspension, according to Reuters. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
 

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