Nichirei Corporation, a major Japanese frozen food supplier, has suffered a cyberattack that disrupted its systems and affected a broad swath of restaurant and retail customers downstream. Over the past few days, some frozen food products and ingredients have become unavailable at chains including KFC Japan, Kura Sushi, AEON and Don Don Donki, leaving consumers in parts of Japan unable to buy some expected items.
Nichirei detected abnormal access on July 13
According to Japanese media reports cited in the source material, the cyberattack took place on July 13. Nichirei said it detected abnormal external access to its servers and immediately activated emergency defense measures. To prevent the damage from spreading and to protect potentially sensitive personal and customer information in its systems, the company took its network offline as a precaution and temporarily shut down affected servers.
That response also stopped normal operations at refrigerated warehouses run by Nichirei Logistics, one of the group’s core businesses, and left its logistics management system unable to function. In an official statement, Nichirei said there is currently no concrete evidence showing that any personal or customer data has been leaked. A detailed forensic review and security investigation are still ongoing.
The report said Nichirei handles low-temperature cargo volumes of as many as 7,000 trucks per day. About 5,000 downstream restaurant and business partners have been affected, with some forced to halt sales of certain items until the systems return to normal.
KFC Japan, Kura Sushi, AEON and Don Don Donki report shortages
The disruption has already reached end consumers. People traveling in Japan may find that some menu items at KFC Japan or Kura Sushi, or some goods at supermarkets, are temporarily unavailable. Large chain operators in Japan have started issuing public notices and posting shortage announcements at stores.
KFC Japan said deliveries of key ingredients including chicken had been disrupted, causing unstable supply and product shortages at some branches. Kura Sushi said that among its nearly 700 stores nationwide, dozens in the Kansai region were seeing delays in sushi ingredients and frozen food deliveries.
AEON said some stores were facing large-scale shortages in frozen food sections and fresh food products because of Nichirei’s system outage. PPIH, the parent company of Don Don Donki, also confirmed that some stores in Japan supplied by Nichirei Logistics were experiencing product shortages, and the company is checking which items were affected.
Impact is currently limited to Japan
Nichirei said the impact of the system intrusion is currently limited to Japan. The company is still investigating and said it will continue providing updates to business partners on the expected timing for system recovery.