- Asahi was hit by a ransomware attack that exposed data of more than 1.5 million people
- The attackers accessed servers and PCs and stole personal information from customer service contacts.
- Qilin ransomware group claimed responsibility and added Asahi to its dark web leak site
Japanese beer maker Asahi has confirmed that it was attacked with ransomware and that the attackers likely stole personal information of more than 1.5 million people.
In an announcement posted on the company’s website, Asahi said it detected the intrusion on September 29 and that the attackers accessed the network through “equipment located at our Group facilities.”
The attackers implemented encryption on several servers and some connected PCs, but not before stealing data from company-issued PCs provided to certain employees.
Qilin takes the blame
“There is a possibility that personal information stored on data center servers may have been exposed,” the announcement reads. “We have not confirmed any cases of this data being published on the Internet.”
“The impact of the attack on our systems is limited to those managed in Japan.”
Asahi has yet to confirm the nature of the files that were taken, but they will most likely include names, gender data, postal addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of those who contacted the customer service centers of Asahi Breweries, Asahi Soft Drinks and Asahi Group Foods – approximately 1,525,000 people.
An additional 300,000 people, such as external contacts, employees, and family members of employees, may also have had some of this data exposed.
There is no evidence that the data has been misused online, Asahi said.
However, the BBC reports that ransomware operators known as Qilin have already claimed responsibility for the attack and added Asahi to their dark web data breach website.
This group has been particularly active in recent months, recently also adding IGT, a global powerhouse in gambling technology, to its list of victims, and before that, in August 2025, attacking Nissan Creative Box, the creative arm of the Japanese multinational automaker.
Through bbc
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