Cyberattack on Asahi: Japan's favorite beer may disappear from shelves.

Cyberattack Threatens Asahi Beer Production

According to The Sun: The large Japanese brewing company Asahi may run out of stock in just a few days due to a cyberattack that halted operations at its plants.

The most popular Japanese beer, Asahi Super Dry, may disappear from store and pub shelves. Most of Asahi's thirty plants had to stop operations from Monday due to failures in ordering and logistics systems.

According to the Financial Times, Japan's largest brewer produces an average of 6.7 million bottles of beer per day. With no clear information on when plant operations will resume, retailers are preparing for empty shelves, as the unprecedented downtime has already lasted four days.

Lawson, one of Japan's major retail chains that offers Asahi Group products, stated: “There is a possibility that some of these products may become increasingly scarce starting tomorrow.”

Another major retailer informed FT that they have two to three days until complete depletion of Asahi beer stocks. The manager noted: “It affects everyone. I think we will soon run out of goods. As for Super Dry, we will exhaust stocks in supermarkets in two to three days, and Asahi products in a week.”

Asahi Super Dry is very popular in Japan.

The company has not commented on the product shortages yet, but on Wednesday, it conducted testing to handle orders and deliveries based on paper systems.

Asahi's shares fell by 2.6 percent. The company is considering switching to manual product supplies. In addition to beer, Asahi also produces baby food, non-alcoholic beverages, and other goods for Japanese retailers.

Cybersecurity experts from Nihon Cyber Defence (NCD) report that Japanese companies are increasingly becoming targets for ransomware attacks due to weak protections. Just in 2024, Japan's National Police Agency recorded 222 cases of such attacks.

According to a representative, Asahi is currently investigating whether a ransomware attack occurred. The company claims that no customer data was handed over to third parties.

This cyberattack also delayed the launch of eight new products, including fruit lemonade, ginger ale with lemon flavor, and protein bars. However, the incident did not affect production in other countries, including Europe, where Peroni Nastro Azzurro beer is exported.

A representative from Asahi told the Sun newspaper: “Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. is currently experiencing a cybersecurity incident affecting operations in Japan.

“None of Asahi's production operations in Europe, including beer supply to the UK, have been affected by this incident.”

The cyberattack on Asahi highlights the importance of cybersecurity in the modern business environment. Japan, like many other countries, faces the need to strengthen its defenses to avoid similar outrageous incidents in the future. Meanwhile, the situation will also impact the beer consumption market, which may significantly affect businesses and consumers.