All Japan factory operations of Toyota are temporarily halted due to a suspected cyberattack.

• On Tuesday, Toyota will halt its factory operations in Japan, resulting in a loss of approximately 13,000 cars due to a suspected cyberattack on a supplier of plastic parts and electronic components.
• No details were immediately known about the perpetrator or their motive for the attack.

On Tuesday, Japan's factory operations will be suspended, resulting in a loss of approximately 13,000 cars in output, due to a suspected cyberattack on a supplier of plastic parts and electronic components.

The attack occurred after Japan joined Western allies in imposing sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. However, it is unclear if the attack was linked to this event.

Fumio Kishida, the Japanese Prime Minister, announced that his administration would probe the occurrence and determine if Russia played a role.

He informed reporters that it's hard to determine if there's any connection to Russia until a comprehensive investigation is conducted.

On Sunday, Kishida declared that Japan would join the US and other nations in preventing certain Russian banks from utilizing the SWIFT international payment system. Additionally, he announced that Japan would provide Ukraine with $100 million in emergency aid.

Kojima Industries, the supplier, reportedly suffered a cyberattack, according to a spokesperson.

A spokesperson from Toyota described it as a “supplier system failure.”

The company's spokesperson stated that the halt at its 14 plants in Japan, which account for approximately one-third of its global production, may continue beyond a day.

Some plants owned by Toyota's affiliates Hino Motors and Daihatsu are among those that have been shut down.

Toyota, despite having faced cyberattacks previously, is a leader in Just-In-Time manufacturing, with parts being delivered directly from suppliers to the production line without being stored.

In the past, Japanese corporations have been targeted by cyberattacks, such as the one that occurred in 2014 and affected Sony, resulting in the exposure of internal data and the shutdown of computer systems.

North Korea was accused by the United States of carrying out the attack, which occurred following the release of "The Interview," a Sony film depicting a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The halt in Toyota's production is due to the global automaker facing supply chain disruptions worldwide, caused by the Covid pandemic, which has forced it and other carmakers to reduce output.

Due to parts shortages caused by the Canadian trucker protests, some production at Toyota in North America was temporarily halted this month.