Asahi Discloses September Data Incident Affecting Almost 2 Million People

Japanese brewing and beverage company Asahi Group Holdings said the data security incident it suffered in September compromised the sensitive personal data of almost 2 million individuals.

Asahi Group Holdings Ltd., a major global beverage company known for brands like Asahi and Peroni, experienced a cyberattack on September 29, which disrupted parts of its domestic operations in Japan. This attack caused a system failure that forced the company to halt order processing and shipment activities across its group companies in Japan, including customer service call centres.

The Qilin ransomware group claimed responsibility for the Asahi attack, listing the company on its leak site. The group says it stole 27 GB of sensitive data—including contracts, employee information, financial records, and other business files—totaling more than 9,000 documents, and posted screenshots as proof.

Although Asahi initially stated that no personal or client data had been affected, the company has now confirmed that sensitive personal information linked to individuals associated with Asahi was in fact compromised.

Asahi said the breach exposed data for 1,525,000 customer-service contacts, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and emails. The hackers also stole the names, addresses, and phone numbers of 114,000 people who had received congratulatory or condolence messages. Additionally, data for 107,000 employees—and the names, birth dates, and gender details of 168,000 family members—was compromised.

In a statement shared with the media, Atsushi Katsuki, President and Group CEO, said, “I would like to sincerely apologise for any difficulties caused to our stakeholders by the recent system disruption. We are making every effort to achieve full system restoration as quickly as possible, while implementing measures to prevent recurrence and strengthen information security across the Group.

“Regarding product supply, shipments are resuming in stages as system recovery progresses. We apologise for the continued inconvenience and appreciate your understanding,” Katsuki added.