Animation studio Toei Animation revealed the investigation report on the unauthorized network access incident (ransomware attack) that occurred earlier this year. An unknown “third-party” accessed Toei’s servers on March 6, which led to multiple anime postponements and delays. In a statement published on the official website, the company stated that they would like to “express our deepest apologies for the tremendous concern and inconvenience caused to our customers, vendors, and other involved parties” while also explaining the details of the incident.
According to the statement, an employee downloaded a file from an “external website”, that served as an entry point for a ransomware attack. Portions of data stored on the Toei Animation servers and office computers were encrypted by ransomware, which caused production delays. Toei’s titles (ONE PIECE, Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai, Digimon Ghost Game, and Delicious Party Precure) were affected, along with the upcoming Dragon Ball Super movie that had its release date moved from May to June. The TV anime have now continued broadcasting.
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Toei Animation also states that they took all the measures once they realized what was going on, including reporting the incident to the authorities, shutting down the internal network, and consulting security experts. Their systems are now running “more or less” as normal and there are plans to further educate employees on information security, as well as to strengthen security systems.
Source: Toei Animation
Featured image: © Toei Animation