Experts at a U.S. computer security firm were unable to hack into Japan's online resident registry system in an experiment conducted to test the system's vulnerability to cyber attacks, the home affairs ministry said Friday.
The tests on the registry system, known in Japanese as Juki Net, were conducted in an unidentified Tokyo ward from Oct. 10 to Sunday, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said.
In the experiment, the U.S. firm tried to penetrate the Juki Net registry and to take over computer terminals set up in local government offices for the local area network.
Both efforts were unsuccessful, according to the ministry.
Taro Aso, minister of public management, home affairs, posts and telecommunications, voiced relief Friday at the results.
"Nagano Prefecture was saying various things, but as far as our experiments go, there has been no problem, and I'm glad of that," he said.
He implied that the ministry would continue to monitor the system's security in the future. "It is a race (in technology advancement), so we will have to take proper measures."
Nagano Prefecture conducted tests in three municipalities from Sept. 22 through Oct. 1 to check Juki Net's vulnerability.