Japanese retail giant Muji has taken its online store offline due to a logistics outage caused by a ransomware attack on its delivery partner, Askul. The company, which operates more than a thousand stores globally with an annual revenue of around $4 billion, said that the issue has affected all of its retail services, including browsing and making purchases on the online store, viewing order histories, and displaying some web content.
Askul, a large business-to-business and business-to-consumer office supplies and logistics e-commerce company owned by Yahoo! Japan Corporation, has confirmed that it was targeted by ransomware, causing operational disruptions. The company has suspended orders, shipping operations, product return applications, receipt mailing, catalog shipping, and collection services, while its customer service desk is also currently unreachable.
This incident comes shortly after another ransomware attack on Japan’s largest beer producer, Asahi, which forced the company to suspend production operations and delay scheduled product launches. The Asahi attack was claimed by the Qilin ransomware group, which also confirmed that the hackers stole data from the company’s systems. While no ransomware groups have claimed responsibility for the Askul attack yet, the disruption to Muji’s online sales in Japan highlights the significant impact that supply chain compromises can have on businesses and their customers.