Panasonic confirmed that its network was illegally accessed earlier this month during a cyberattack.
The Japanese company was attacked on November 11th, according to a statement released on Friday, and “some data on a file server was accessed during the intrusion.”
“After detecting the unauthorized access, the company immediately reported the incident to the relevant authorities and implemented security countermeasures, including steps to prevent external access to the network,” In a statement, Panasonic said.
“In addition to conducting its own investigation, Panasonic is currently working with a specialist third-party organization to investigate the leak and determine if the breach involved customers’ personal information and/or sensitive information related to social infrastructure.”
While the statement provided no other details, Japanese news outlets Mainichi and NHK reported that the breach began on June 22 and ended on November 3.
Panasonic did not respond to requests for comment, but in an interview with TechCrunch, the company confirmed the date and explained that the November 11 date refers to when the breach was first discovered.
NHK reported that the infected servers held information about Panasonic’s business partners and technology, citing a ransomware attack on a subsidiary of the company in November that also exposed business data.
“We can’t say whether it will affect our business or performance, but we can’t rule out the possibility of a serious incident,” the company told Mainichi on Friday, according to The Record. The breach may have also involved employee information, according to The Record.
