When Cyber Hackers Turned Japan’s Top Beer Giant Back to Old-School Brewing

Asahi Breweries is one of Japan's largest and most popular beer companies, best known for its Asahi Super Dry beer. Recently, Asahi faced a major problem when hackers attacked their computer systems. This cyber-attack forced Asahi to stop production at most of its 30 factories across Japan. Although the company has managed to partially reopen all its facilities, including six breweries, their computer systems are still not working. As a result, Asahi has to process orders and shipments manually, using pen, paper, and fax machines. This old-fashioned way of working is much slower and less efficient, so Asahi can only send out a small fraction of the beer and other products they usually deliver.

The impact of this cyber-attack is being felt all over Japan. Asahi controls about 40 percent of the country's beer market, so when their shipments slowed down, bars, restaurants, and stores started running out of stock. For example, Ben Thai, a small restaurant in Tokyo, only has four bottles of Asahi Super Dry left. The owner, Sakaolath Sugizaki, says her supplier is saving most of the beer for bigger customers. Other store owners, like Hisako Arisawa, are also worried. She can only get a few bottles at a time and thinks the shortage will last for at least a month. It's not just beer that's affected; Asahi also makes soft drinks like ginger beer and soda water, and these are also running low in stores.

Major convenience store chains such as FamilyMart, 7-Eleven, and Lawsons have warned customers about shortages of Asahi products. FamilyMart said its bottled teas made by Asahi might be out of stock, and 7-Eleven has stopped shipments of Asahi drinks. Alcohol wholesalers are only receiving about 10 to 20 percent of their usual orders, and everything has to be done by hand and fax. Asahi also owns famous beer brands in Europe, like Peroni and Grolsch, but those operations were not affected by the attack. The hackers responsible, a group called Qilin, have attacked other big companies before. Asahi found that some of their data was leaked online. Japan has experienced other cyber-attacks recently, including attacks on airports and airlines. Experts say Japan needs more cybersecurity professionals and better digital skills. The government has passed new laws to help fight cyber-attacks, but small businesses like Ben Thai restaurant are still struggling to get enough Asahi beer for their customers.