Automaker Toyota (TM) says it has suspended all of its factory operations in Japan after a supplier of plastic parts and electronic components was hit by a cyber attack.
The shutdown in operations will result in Toyota losing around 13,000 of car production a day, the company said.
No information was immediately available about who was behind the attack or the motive. The attack comes days after Japan joined Western allies in clamping down on Russia after it invaded Ukraine, although it was not clear if the cyber attack is related.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his government will investigate the incident and whether Russia was involved.
Kishida on Sunday announced that Japan would join the U.S. and Canada in blocking some Russian banks from accessing the SWIFT international payment system. He also said Japan would give Ukraine $100 million U.S. in emergency aid.
Toyota said it does not yet know if the halt at its 14 plants in Japan, which account for about one-third of its global production, will last more than a few days.
Toyota, which has experienced cyber attacks in the past, is a pioneer of just-in-time manufacturing with parts that arrive from suppliers going straight to the production line rather than being stockpiled.
State actors have launched cyberattacks on Japanese corporations in the past, including an attack on Sony in 2014 that exposed internal data and shut down computer systems.
Toyota’s production halt comes as the world’s biggest automaker is already tackling supply chain disruptions around the world caused by the pandemic, which has forced it and other automakers to curb output.
Toyota also saw some production stopped in North America in recent weeks due to parts shortages caused by the Canadian trucker protests.
