Asahi beer, hacker attack puts supplies to Japan at risk
Hackers allegedly disabled the ordering and delivery system, forcing the company to indefinitely postpone the launch of a dozen new products
A hacker attack puts stocks of Asahi beer in Japan at risk. The Japanese group, which produces not only the eponymous Super Dry, but also soft drinks and the whisky Nikka, has been forced to stop production at most of its 30 plants across the country.
Hackers allegedly disabled Asahi's ordering and delivery system, forcing the company to indefinitely postpone the planned launch of a dozen new products, including carbonated soft drinks and protein bars, at the end of the month.
According to the Kyodo news agency, customer service desks have also been suspended, employees are no longer able to receive e-mails from outside and are forced to take orders over the phone and process them manually.
The country's most popular brewery has not yet announced when it might resume production, triggering alarm among wholesalers and retailers (the news is also of particular concern to Japanese mini-markets).
According to the Financial Times, the stoppage of deliveries could lead to the depletion of Super Dry stocks (73 million cases sold last year, against a background of declining domestic beer consumption and fierce competition between Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Suntory) in two to three days.
