Toyota’s production facilities in Japan have been brought to a halt as of this morning. According to Nikkei, one of Toyota’s most key suppliers has been hacked in some way, though Toyota has been tight-lipped about the details.
“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), according to on its website.
The “system failure,” according to a Kojima Industries official, was actually a hack against Nikkei. “We have been struck by some form of cyberattack,” a source close to Kojima confirmed. They are confirming and verifying  the damage and are moving quickly to respond, with the top priority being to get Toyota’s production system back up and running as soon as possible.”
The cyberattack’s details are still hazy at best — and not because either firm is trying to hide them. Kojima said yesterday that it was still trying to figure out what kind of malware was used in the attack, as well as establishing out who the attacker was and how much damage had been done to its networks.
If you’re curious about why Toyota would shut down its entire operation because of a cyberattack on one of its suppliers, it’s because Kojima is the company that supplies Toyota with parts that are used in many aspects of its automobiles, such as air conditioning components.
The attack, according to Kojima, prevented the supplier from delivering components to Toyota on schedule, and the same supply backup affected two additional Toyota partners- Hino and Daihatsu
Though missing a whole day of work can have an impact on longer-term production goals and timetables, Kojima and Toyota could have had it a lot worse. If the incident had been more serious, one production day could have easily grown into a week or a month.
We can only hope that Kojima uses this as a chance to improve its cybersecurity. Its networks, though, will not be impregnable even then. Even our most vital systems are vulnerable to hacking. As the world’s cybersecurity defences improve, so are the tactics used to overcome them.
