Rising cyberattacks in Japan show how U.S., Europe are also vulnerable

Historically, Japanese companies avoided paying ransoms by relying on punishingly slow data-recovery firms to piece together corrupted networks, says Tatsuhiro Tanaka, a retired major general who is now a research principal at Fujitsu System Integration Laboratories Ltd. But the rising frequency of attacks means the recovery cost is increasing too. (Credit: Sashkin/Adobe Stock)

(Bloomberg) — Kojima Industries Corp. is a small company and little-known outside Japan, where it produces cup holders, USB sockets and door pockets for car interiors. But its modest role in the automotive supply chain is a critical one. And when the company was hacked in February 2022, it brought Toyota Motor Corp.’s entire production line to a screeching stop.

The world’s top-selling carmaker had to halt 14 factories at a cost of about $375 million, based on a rough calculation of its sales and output data. Even after the initial crisis was over, it took months for Kojima to get operations close to their old routines.