Subaru, Suzuki and Chips

Computers need hardware, like semiconductors (chips). Modern cars need computers and thus chips. Subaru announced it will shut down one of its Japanese factories for more than two weeks because of the ongoing shortage of semiconductors. The international car company will close its Yajima plant in Gunma, Japan. The auto shut down is scheduled to begin between 10 April 2021 and the scheduled Japanese holiday of Golden Week, 29 April. Operations will not resume until 10 May. The factory builds vehicles including the Outback and the Forester and the shutdown is expected to reduce the brand’s production volume by about 10,000 autos. Nikkei Asia reports that one of the production lines will be idled for 13 workdays while the other will be idled for eight workdays.

Subaru expects to procure the necessary chips to restart production by 10 May. It will continue operations at its main plant in Gunma that has a single assembly line. The car manufacturer has confirmed that the reduction in output is not related to the 19 March 2021 fire that hit Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corporation, worsening the global shortage of semiconductors.[1]

Renesas Electronics is set to shift some production to a factory in the southwestern region of Ehime Japan after a fire damaged one of its factories in northeast Japan. Renesas has said it would take months to get the fire-hit factory back to normal, which is directly affecting international semiconductor supplies used in cars, smartphones and home appliances.[2]

News of Subaru having to suspend auto production comes on the heels of Suzuki revealing it will temporarily halt production at two of its three auto plants in Japan due to this chip shortage. The shortage has been causing mayhem on the entire automotive industry since the start of 2021. Last week, Ford revealed that it will temporarily stop or slow production at six plants across North America due to lack of semiconductors.

This exposes the vulnerabilities of hardware shortages to the entire cyber spectrum. Resiliency in all aspects of cyber is essential to maintaining and growing our security posture.

Red Sky Alliance has been has analyzing and documenting these type of cyber threats for 9 years and maintains a resource library of malware and cyber actor reports available at https://redskyalliance.org at no charge. Many past tactics are often dusted off and reused in current malicious campaigns. Red Sky Alliance can provide actionable cyber intelligence and weekly blacklists to help protect your network.

Red Sky Alliance is a Cyber Threat Analysis and Intelligence Service organization. For questions, comments or assistance, please contact the lab directly at 1-844-492-7225, or feedback@wapacklabs.com

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