Nichirei and the Allure of Large Supply Chains

Aug 3

Cyber Criminals are Targeting Critical Infrastructures

The shift towards cyber physical systems (CPS), digital infrastructure, and the industrial internet of things (IIOT) has optimized the speed and efficiency of our critical infrastructures (CIs), allowing supply chains and globalized delivery services to work smoother than ever before. However, as our supply chain management systems and other vital critical infrastructures have become more intelligent, so have the attacks aimed against them.

A great example of this is the recent attack on Japan’s Nichirei, a frozen food distribution corporation that supplies products to numerous restaurants and major retailers, including KFC Japan. The attack was revealed to have been perpetrated by Russian-based hacking group RansomHouse, who have targeted major Japanese corporations in the past, such as Askul, an office supplier centered on e-commerce and logistics. RansomHouse is known for demanding ransoms before encrypting files, notifying their victims of the amount of sensitive information they’ve stolen, and the price they need to pay if they don’t want it leaked or sold to other bad actors. Both Askul and Nichirei refused to pay RansomHouse, notifying affected parties of the data leaks, and working with both government and private cybersecurity organizations to try and regain control.

In the case of Nichirei, this decision led to major system failures, a disruption that compromised food distribution systems all across Japan. Major supermarket, retail, and fast food chains such as Aeon, Don Quijote, and KFC Japan, respectively, were unable to receive shipments and had to limit their menus and stores hours to compensate for the loss of inventory. It has now been a little over a week since Nichirei realized they were experiencing a cyber attack, and normal operations have more or less been resumed. For an attack focusing on a large food supplier, this resolution constitutes a best-case scenario.

Many food distribution systems can be considered critical infrastructures in their own right, as a system failure on their end can pose significant harm to the economy and public health of the places they serve. Their vital nature, and hence inability to deal with down-times, is what makes them such enticing targets to cyber criminals.

Supply Chain Vulnerabilities and Potential Defenses

Another appealing aspect of modern supply chains, as implied in the introduction to this article, is their reliance on the internet. The amount of online channels necessary to maintain operations opens organizations to innumerous vulnerabilities. Communications, for example, are often targeted as potential “weak links” in an otherwise well-secured supply chain.

“Communications in a network are often assumed to be private; however, an attacker may exploit the network in a man-in-the-middle attack to steal confidential information, sabotage a cyber-physical system, or maliciously alter information.” (Riggs et al., MDPI, 2023, p. 4)

After gaining access, threat actors can then begin infiltrating CI systems. These attacks can go unnoticed for extended periods of time, and by the time they are uncovered have usually already compromised multiple channels, a process made much easier through the intense interconnectedness of the digital infrastructures modern CI relies on.

This was the case for both the Askul and Nichirei attacks, whose systems RansomHouse was able to scrape for months before any action was taken. This is common for attacks orchestrated against complex CI systems, as gaining covert access to the information needed to launch large-scale attacks takes a significant amount of time.

And this attack pattern is a large part of why many organizations are looking into AI solutions to mitigate these vulnerabilities. Continuous monitoring through AI agents who are able to take instant action in a dynamic fashion - a way that mimics human response teams - could prove to be an invaluable defense strategy as cyber crime continues to evolve. Being able to respond to threats at an inhuman speed is undeniably important as critical infrastructures begin to face more inhuman threats, through the form of machine learning and AI-assisted cyber crime. In short,

“Machine learning methods can have a system automatically learn based on past and live data, identify latent patterns, and adjust itself to new attack patterns, without being explicitly programmed.” (Jabed et al., Machine Learning-Driven Cyber Defense, 2026, p. 2)

All of these features take the pressure off of cybersecurity teams, especially ones who have been trying to scale outdated security systems, reflective of a desire to move from reactive to proactive cybersecurity. This is a change that will likely become unavoidable as cyber criminals continue to target CIs and supply chains, and rapid anomaly detection to prevent latent attacks becomes a vital part of global digital security infrastructure. However, these methods are not without fault, and new ways to bypass AI security or corrupt AI-managed systems are being uncovered every day, putting the companies that adopt them without sufficient safety nets and human-in-the-loop procedures at risk.

As such, another important defense when it comes to critical infrastructures and supply chains is establishing Zero Trust Architecture. This, too, exists as a proactive, preventative measure, and poses significantly less risk than AI channels, which have been shown to be exploitable in unexpected ways. Zero Trust is also especially important when it comes to securing multiple networks, an inevitable security vulnerability for most CIs and supply chains. On that same note, network segmentation is another key part of protecting both CI and supply chain operations, making sure attacks that have occurred under the radar are less likely to spread.

Keeping these preventative security measures in mind, it’s still important to understand that no amount of cybersecurity tools can guarantee a system will be safe from attack. As cyber threats continue to advance and adapt to target critical structures and systems, trained cybersecurity professionals with the resources and timelines they need to mitigate complex attacks and address threats in real time will remain vital infrastructures’ strongest defense.