Asahi Group Holdings has finished investigating the cyberattack it suffered in September and says the incident affected up to 1.9 million people.
The company found that the stolen information includes names, genders, home addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. Asahi warns that this data could be used for phishing attempts, so people should be careful with unexpected emails or messages.
The cyberattack was first announced on September 29, when Asahi had to stop some of its production and shipping operations because its systems were disrupted. At that time, the company believed that no customer information had been accessed. A few days later, however, the situation changed when Asahi confirmed that it had actually been hit by a ransomware group and that personal data had been taken.
The Qilin ransomware gang soon claimed responsibility and said they had stolen around 27 gigabytes of data from the company. They also released samples of the files on their leak site to back up their claims. Asahi has now shared more details about who was affected. The largest group includes around 1.5 million customers who had contacted the company’s customer service centers for its breweries, drinks, and foods divisions. Another 114,000 people were affected after receiving congratulatory or condolence telegrams from Asahi. The breach also involved information from about 107,000 current and former employees as well as 168,000 of their family members.
The type of data exposed is different for each group, but it may include names, contact details, and gender. For employees and their families, the information could also include dates of birth. Asahi notes that no credit card information was leaked. To help those affected, the company has set up a special contact line where people can ask about the information that may have been exposed.
Asahi’s CEO, Atsushi Katsuki, says the company is still working to fully restore the systems that were damaged in the attack. More than two months have passed since the breach, and recovery is still ongoing. He says the company is trying to bring all systems back as quickly as possible while also making changes to strengthen its security.
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