Suspected Cyberattack Shuts Down Toyota Production

Toyota is suspending production at all 28 lines of its 14 plants in Japan starting Tuesday, because of a "system malfunction" that a domestic supplier suspects is a cyberattack. Kojima Industries Corp., based in Toyota city in central Japan, said Monday the problem could be a cyberattack, as an error was detected in its computer server system, per the AP. As a result, the company said its system couldn't communicate properly with Toyota or monitor production, although there was nothing physically wrong with the production equipment.

"This has never happened before," said Kojima spokesman Tomohiro Takayama. "We are not sure yet if it is a cyberattack, but we suspect it might be one." Kojima supplies Toyota with air conditioning, steering wheel components, and other parts. Toyota Motor Corp., which makes the Prius hybrid and Camry sedan, apologized for inconveniencing its customers and promised to fix the problem as quickly as possible. Hino Motors, a Toyota Group truck-maker, said two of its production plants in Japan were similarly affected with a malfunction. The Nikkei business daily reported Daihatsu Motor Co., a Toyota affiliate that makes small cars, was also affected and had stopped production.

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