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The world’s largest automaker is suspending production at a third of its factories, according to Reuters. Toyota says it will temporarily stop making cars at its Japanese factories after one of its suppliers was hacked.
The company in question is called Kojima Industries, which makes composite and plastic parts for Toyota, both for car interiors and also parts for Toyota’s hybrid and fuel cell electric vehicles. Reuters quotes a Toyota spokesperson who described the event as a “supplier system failure.”
Consequently, on March 1, Toyota will halt 28 production lines at 14 factories across Japan.
Toyota is becoming quite the frequent target for hackers. It was compromised at least three times in 2019, including a malware attack in Australia, a breach of 3.1 million customers’ data in Japan (and possibly Thailand and Vietnam), and a scam that cost a subsidiary $37 million.
Toyota was hacked again in 2021, this time via a US parts subsidiary, in an incident believed to be Russian in origin.
But it’s also not the only automaker to have to halt production after being compromised. In 2020 we reported that Honda had to stop making cars at plants in Ohio and Turkey and cease production of motorcycles in India and South America.
Little more information is public about today’s cyber attack, including any potential suspects. However, Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said that his government would investigate, including any possible links to Russia.