Toei Animation has shed some light on the unauthorized network access that occurred in early March and the results of its investigation.
On how the incident occurred, the company revealed that it stemmed from an employee downloading a software “required for business” from a website. This software “had been tampered with so as to simultaneously download a software program that would serve as the entry point for ransomware infiltration,” Toei said. The company confirmed the unauthorized access on March 6.
The anime production delays stemmed from parts of Toei Animation’s server and PC data being encrypted by the ransomware. According to the company, external security specialists brought in for the investigation did not confirm the leakage of any information, and there have not been “any report on damages to customers, etc.” The company said that it immediately shut down parts of its internal system among other measures when the unauthorized access was confirmed.
The incident also caused some of Toei Animation’s regular operations to be delayed, but the company is now “more or less” back to normal. The delays for both the regular operations and anime productions lasted for around a month.
“Going forward, the Company plans to educate its employees so as to raise their knowledge of information security and also strengthen the response system to prevent unauthorized access,” the press release concluded.
Source: Toei Animation