Cyberattack-Hit Nichirei to Resume Operations on Fri.

Tokyo, July 16 (Jiji Press)–Japanese frozen food maker Nichirei Corp. plans to gradually resume cyberattack-affected operations from Friday, but it is unclear when the operations will be fully restored. The company will resume loading and unloading at refrigerated warehouses and shipping frozen foods, which had been suspended following a system outage caused by a cyberattack. On Monday, Nichirei said that it had been hit by unauthorized access that caused system failures. Its decision to shut off all access to its system has impacted group operations, such as inbound and outbound operations at the refrigerated warehouses of subsidiary Nichirei Logistics Group Inc. and shipments of frozen food products by Nichirei Foods Inc. Nichirei Logistics Group is Japan’s largest low-temperature logistics company, dealing with over 5,000 companies. Following the cyberattack, sushi restaurant operator Kura Sushi Inc. and fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan Ltd., both clients of the logistics firm, suspended sales of some products. Retailers Aeon Co. and Don Quijote Co. saw shortages of some frozen foods. Ezaki Glico Co., which stores some products in Nichirei’s warehouses, experienced delivery delays affecting about 20 pct of its ice cream products. It has begun transporting products from other warehouses not managed by Nichirei to make up for the delays. A Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture-based company that produces meals for companies and elderly care facilities altered its menus in response to the operational suspension at the Nichirei group. In recent years, system failures caused by cyberattacks have increasingly impacted a wide range of companies through logistics disruptions. Office and household goods supplier Askul Corp. experienced a cyberattack last autumn and took about two months to resume shipments. Food and beverage giant Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. took more than six months to restart shipments of all products. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]