Fujifilm Corporation in Tokyo said that on the late evening of 1 June, the company “became aware of the possibility of a ransomware attack” and the possible unauthorised access to its server from outside the group.

“As a result, we have taken measures to suspend all affected systems in coordination with our various global entities.”

As part of the investigation Fujifilm’s network was partially shut down and disconnected from external correspondence to protect the business.

Fujfilm Europe subsequently issued a statement explaining that it had taken all EMEA networks, servers, and IT equipment and systems offline “as a precautionary measure”.

On 4 June it was confirmed that the ransomware attack had been confined to a specific network in Japan, and on Monday (7 June) its EMEA systems were restored.

Andy Kent, divisional manager at Fujifilm Graphic Systems UK, said: “From a UK perspective, we endured two to three days of disruption due to a precautionary shutdown of our systems. I can reassure all our customers that there was no data breach at any of our UK businesses and that all data is completely secure. We are now catching up with the backlog caused and will be back to normal operating very soon.”

Fujifilm’s global operations include healthcare, imaging, workplace services, and materials.

The current epidemic of cyber attacks around the world has seen a string of high-profile businesses, organisations and key infrastructure networks targeted by cyber-criminals.

Security news site Bleeping Computer said the Fujifilm attack involved the Qbot trojan, and it has also been reported that Fujifilm has refused to pay any ransom.

In its latest statement on the matter, Fujifilm Corporation said that it was able to bring its network, servers and computers back into safe operation on 4 June “with a clear understanding of the extent of the impact”.

It stated: “We have reported the incident to the relevant government authorities and the police. We will continue to take all necessary measures to serve our customers and business partners in a secure way. We sincerely apologise to our customers and business partners for the inconvenience this has caused.”

Fujifilm is not the first industry manufacturer to be targeted by cyber criminals. Cyber attackers targeted inkjet developer Xaar last year.