26.09.2025
2 min
555
Asahi Group Holdings reported a cyberattack that caused a complete halt to order taking and shipments in Japan, unavailability of the call center and support service, and temporary suspension of a number of operations; the leak of personal data has not been confirmed, the company is conducting an investigation and recovery work without announcing a timeframe.
Asahi called the incident a “system failure caused by a cyberattack,” affecting only the Japanese business unit.
As of the announcement: orders/shipments have been completely halted, the contact center is unavailable to customers and partners.
The company apologized for the inconvenience, the source of the incident is being determined; there is no information about encryption of systems or ransom demands, and no known gang has yet claimed responsibility.
According to unofficial estimates, the attack was recorded at around 07:00 local time; the initial access vector is not disclosed.
Recommendations for counterparties: refrain from sending orders, use official channels for status updates, do not open suspicious emails/SMS regarding “expedition of shipments.”
Asahi is the largest brewer in Japan (~**1/3** of the domestic market), 30,000 employees, about 100 million hectoliters of beverages annually, ≈$20 billion in revenue in 2024. International presence: regions Japan/Europe/Oceania/Southeast Asia; brand portfolio: Peroni, Pilsner Urquell, Grolsch, Fuller’s, etc. Against the backdrop of a wave of attacks on production and supply chains in Asia and Europe, companies are increasingly stopping OT/IT processes preventively to localize the incident and minimize the impact on production and logistics.
The Asahi case demonstrates a classic risk for business-critical operations: even without a confirmed leak, an IT breach can instantly impact orders, shipments, and customer support. The brewing and FMCG sectors need: IT/OT segmentation, “**clean** recovery plans (**immutable backup**, **proven runbooks**), EDR/XDR with telemetry, multi-channel communication with partners, and supply chain fault tolerance testing.
