On Sept. 19, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Japan's biggest defense contractor, said that traces of hackers' access to its computers had been found. The next day, IHI Corp., another major defense contractor, said that it was also exposed to cyber attacks. Two other defense contractors — Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. — were also found to have been targeted by cyber attacks.
It was not immediately known whether important defense-related information had been leaked. But these firms build and repair main weapons of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) such as jet fighters, patrol aircraft, helicopters, aircraft engines, destroyers, submarines, radar and missiles.
The recent cyber attacks have brought to the fore the vulnerability of Japan's defense contractors or other enterprises and government ministries and agencies, for that matter, to cyber attacks. It would not be far-fetched to say that hackers are watching eagerly for a chance to attack enterprises and government ministries and agencies. Japanese business and government agencies cannot be too careful about protecting their computers.