"Toyota Halts Production Across Japan After Ransomware Attack"

After a ransomware attack on a key supplier, the world’s largest carmaker has been forced to halt production at all of its plants in Japan.  Toyota claimed it would suspend 28 production lines at 14 factories on Tuesday, with a planned resumption due for Wednesday but might be postponed.  A cyberattack hit plastic parts supplier Kojima Industries and threatened to spill over into Toyota’s IT systems via its “Kanban” just-in-time production control system.  Toyota cyber-experts are said to be on-site at Kojima to determine the impact and source of the attack.  Also affected are Toyota subsidiaries Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor.  The Japanese carmaker sold 10.5 million vehicles in 2021, making it the world’s biggest producer for the second year running.  Andy Kays, CEO of Socura, claimed factory IT and OT systems are so exposed by default that it’s “astounding” more compromises don’t occur.  Modern manufacturing companies such as Kojima Industries have hundreds, if not thousands, of connected devices on site.  Each one is a potential point of attack and a point of failure.  Combined with a factory’s sizeable workforce, its attack surface is enormous.  According to a recent report from IBM, the manufacturing sector was hit by more ransomware attacks than any other last year.

Infosecurity reports: "Toyota Halts Production Across Japan After Ransomware Attack"