- Asahi was hit by ransomware attacks that exposed the data of over 1.5 million individuals
- Attackers gained access to servers and PCs and stole personal information from customer service contacts
- Ransomware group Qilin claimed responsibility and added Asahi to its dark web leak site
Japanese beer maker Asahi has confirmed that it was hit by ransomware and that the attackers most likely stole the personal information of more than 1.5 million people.
In a statement published on the company’s website, Asahi said it discovered the intrusion on September 29 and that the attackers gained access to the network through “equipment located on our group’s website”.
The attackers installed the encryption tool 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 servers in the data center may have been exposed,” the notice 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 not yet confirmed the nature of the files taken, but they most likely include the names, gender data, postal addresses, telephone 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 employees’ family members, may also have had some of this data exposed.
There is no evidence that data has been misused online, Asahi said.
However, the BBC reports that ransomware operators known as Qilin already claimed responsibility for the attack, adding Asahi to their dark web data leak site.
This group has been particularly active in the past few months, and recently it also added IGT, a global powerhouse in gambling technology, to its list of victims, and before that – in August 2025 – it hit Nissan Creative Box, the creative arm of the Japanese multinational automaker.
Via BBC
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