Nichirei has confirmed a cyberattack disrupted parts of its frozen-food and logistics operations this week, with the Japanese food group also warning personal information may have been exposed.
In a statement today, the Tokyo-listed company encountered “system failures” on Monday (13 July), prompting it to set up “an emergency response headquarters” and investigate the cause.
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“As a result of the investigation, the company confirmed that its servers had been subject to a cyberattack,” Nichirei said.
The owner of Honkaku-Itame Cha-Han fried rice and Japanese-style deep-fried chicken brand Toku-kara said it would not disclose further details “to prevent further potential damage”.
Nichirei added that some of the affected servers stored personal information and it has filed an initial report with Japan’s Personal Information Protection Commission over the possibility of a leak.
The company said it will continue to investigate, and “should any leakage be confirmed, will promptly report the matter to the relevant parties”.
To contain the impact, Nichirei disconnected systems used across the group on Monday.
As a result, this move disrupted inbound and outbound operations at refrigerated warehouses run by Nichirei Logistics Group and frozen-food shipment operations at Nichirei Foods.
After introducing security measures with an external cybersecurity specialist, Nichirei said it plans to “gradually resume” the affected operations from tomorrow (17 July).
The company said the financial impact of the cyberattack is still being assessed.
It still plans to release first-quarter results for the fiscal year ending 31 December 2026 as planned on 7 August.
For the year ended 31 March 2026, Nichirei’s net sales rose 2% to Y716.14bn ($4.41bn), while operating profit edged up to Y38.99bn from Y38.31bn.
Profit attributable to owners of parent increased 10.5% to Y27.33bn.
Nichirei has forecast net sales of Y609.40bn and operating profit of JPY33.80bn for the nine-month transition period ending 31 December 2026.
The company is moving from a March year-end to a December year-end, making the period to 31 December 2026 a shortened nine-month transition year.
Last September, major Japanese drinks and food group, Asahi, was also hit by a cyberattack which hit its domestic business.
The cyberattack affected production and distribution across its businesses in Japan. Asahi’s factories resumed operations a week later. The group’s businesses in Europe and Asia Pacific were not impacted by the breach.
