Japan facing shortages of Asahi beer, other drinks following cyberattack

A cyberattack is wreaking havoc on the Japanese company that makes Asahi beer, with shortages of the beer and other products expected soon.

The Monday ransomware attack on the company’s servers has slowed Asahi Group Holdings’ operations. The company, the biggest brewer in Japan, said it suspended domestic orders and shipments and cannot receive emails from outside the company. It has had to indefinitely postpone the launch of eight new products, according to the Financial Times.

In addition to beer, Asahi makes soft drinks and food products.

Japanese retailers, including 7-Eleven and FamilyMart, have warned customers to expect shortages of Asahi products, the BBC reported.

“When it comes to Super Dry, I think we’ll run out in two or three days at supermarkets and Asahi’s food products within a week or so,” an executive at a Japanese retailer who did not provide their name told the Financial Times. Asahi Super Dry is Japan’s most popular brand of beer.

The system failure does not affect Asahi’s operations outside of Japan, the company said. Asahi’s operations inside Japan account for about half of the company’s sales, according to the BBC.

To get around the issue, Asahi said it has begun partially processing some orders and shipments manually. The company said it hopes to resume call center operations next week.

The company said after the cyberattack was discovered, it took action to ensure sensitive data was safe and it isolated the affected systems, and is now investigating possible unauthorized transfers of its data.