About 200 organizations, including the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), were attacked by suspected Chinese hackers in 2016 and 2017, according to Gifu prefectural officials cited by Kyodo News on Tuesday, with a number of local governments, including Gifu Prefecture, and television stations in Osaka also targeted.
In April, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department reportedly arrested a Chinese man and referred him to the prosecution for “using a false name, contracting a Japanese rental server for the attacks, and allegedly illegally creating and providing private electromagnetic records. Japanese police believe that the attack was carried out by the Chinese related hacking group “Tick” under the direction of the Chinese Communist military.
The Gifu prefectural official confirmed that all of the hacked organizations had imported Japanese software used for asset management, and that these network security vulnerabilities were then maliciously exploited. So far, the attacked organizations include defense-related companies such as Mitsubishi Electric, Hitachi, and IHI, as well as research institutions such as Keio University and Hitotsubashi University. The person in charge said, “There has been no damage such as information leakage.”
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