Tag - cybersecurity

 
 

CYBERSECURITY

From January to May, a total of 5,958 illegal online financial transactions were made via hijacked securities accounts, according to the Financial Services Agency.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 6, 2025
Financial transactions via hijacked accounts top ¥500B in January-May
A total of 16 securities companies are affected by the hijackings.
Malware used by Chinese state-backed hacking groups was on the systems of a U.S. telecommunications firm for seven months starting in the summer of 2023, investigators claim.
WORLD
Jun 5, 2025
Chinese hacked U.S. telecom a year before known wireless breaches
The hack raises questions about when Chinese intruders established a foothold in the American communications industry.
Takanori Nishiyama, Japan manager of Keeper Security. Password managers can help thwart phishing attacks.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
May 30, 2025
Online brokerage account hijacks in Japan highlight need for login vigilance
Portfolios are being commandeered to manipulate the market for the benefit of the hacker.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (second from left) chairs a meeting of the government's cybersecurity strategy panel in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 29, 2025
Government to formulate new cybersecurity strategy amid rising threats
The new strategy includes a change in cryptography systems to better protect the government's internal communications against cyberattacks from quantum computers.
Then-U.S. national security adviser Mike Waltz checks his mobile phone while attending a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on April 30.
WORLD / Politics
May 22, 2025
Hacker behind U.S communication breach stole data from across government
The discovery potentially raises the stakes of a breach that has already drawn questions about data security in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Singaporean Ambassador to Japan Ong Eng Chuan says his country hopes to “collaborate closely” with Japan in the area of quantum computing technology.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 20, 2025
Singapore envoy eyes stronger cyber and digital links with Japan
Quantum computing is one particular area of interest as Japan develops its technical capability via a collaboration with Intel.
Okasan Securities and Iwai Cosmo Securities said they had been hit by fraudulent trading, indicating the hacking of online trading accounts is expanding to mid-sized brokerages.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 16, 2025
Hacking of trading accounts in Japan spreads to midsized firms
The hacking of online trading accounts has exploded in Japan, surging more than 10-fold in April from March.
The Upper House passed the active cyberdefense bill on Friday with majority support spanning the ruling bloc and the major opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
JAPAN / Politics
May 16, 2025
Japan enacts active cyberdefense law
Through the law, the government aims to set up defenses against cyberattacks that are on par with or better than major Western countries.
Japan hopes to increase the number of cybersecurity experts in the country to 50,000 by 2030.
JAPAN
May 15, 2025
Japan looks to increase number of cybersecurity experts to 50,000 by 2030
A private survey has shown that Japan faces a cybersecurity expert shortage of about 110,000 people, highlighting an urgent need to nurture such professionals.
Hackers are believed to be taking control of brokerage accounts in Japan to manipulate stock prices, with reported cases rising at an alarming rate between January and April.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 9, 2025
FSA reports about ¥300B in illicit online trading from January to April
The number of unauthorized access cases soared from just 65 at the start of the year to 4,852 last month.
Deputy Prime Minister of Poland and Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski arrives for a meeting in Paris in February.
WORLD / Politics
May 7, 2025
Poland says Russia is trying to interfere in presidential election
Warsaw says its role as a hub for aid to Ukraine has made it a target for Russian sabotage, cyberattacks and disinformation.
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar on the border with Thailand-Myanmar after a multinational crackdown on the compounds run by criminal gangs, operated by the Karen National Army in Myawaddy, Myanmar, on Feb. 26.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 6, 2025
U.S. puts sanctions on Myanmar warlord and militia linked to online scams
Saw Chit Thu is a central figure in a network of illicit and highly lucrative internet scam operations targeting Americans, the U.S. Treasury says.
Participants in Chinese hacking competitions are required to report their findings to the government first, according to a 2018 regulation.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 1, 2025
Chinese hacking competitions fuel the country’s broad cyber ambitions
Chinese hacking contests now serve national security, with vulnerabilities passed to the state, not fixed by tech makers.
Ground personnel unload weapons and other military hardware delivered by the U.S. military near Kyiv in 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 28, 2025
U.S. aid pullback is making Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian hacks
USAID has been gutted in the first months of Trump’s presidency by Elon Musk’s "department of government efficiency," and Trump has become increasingly impatient with Zelenskyy.
The activity represents the continuing evolution in the sprawling North Korean efforts to target the cryptocurrency sectors in a bid to raise cash for the North Korean government.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Apr 25, 2025
North Korean cyber spies created U.S. firms to dupe crypto developers
The activity shows the continuing evolution in North Korea's efforts to target the cryptocurrency sectors to raise cash for the North Korean government.
Multinational victims of scam centers, who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar, stand on a vessel floating towards the Thai side of border via Moei River in Phop Phra District, Tak province, Thailand, on Feb. 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Apr 21, 2025
'Cancer' of billion-dollar cyberscam industry spreading globally: U.N.
Even as Southeast Asian governments have intensified a crackdown, syndicates have moved within and beyond the region.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba answers questions as the House of Councilors begins deliberations on an active cyberdefense bill on Friday at the Diet.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 18, 2025
Japan Upper House begins debates on active cyberdefense bill
The bill is aimed at allowing the government to monitor online communication in order to neutralize threats if it detects any sign of a major cyberattack.
One 36-year-old man, a company employee who had used Rakuten Securities for over a decade, lost about ¥2.1 million ($14,700) in the scheme.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 17, 2025
Japanese online brokerage accounts hacked in growing scandal
Rakuten Securities has disclosed a series of account takeovers, with Nomura Securities, SBI Securities and other firms also confirming similar incidents.
A U.S. security report cites DeepSeek’s ties to Chinese government interests as "significant.”
WORLD / Politics
Apr 17, 2025
DeepSeek poses ‘profound’ security threat, U.S. house panel claims
The committee urged Nvidia to hand over information on sales of chips that the Chinese startup may have used to develop its breakthrough chatbot model.
Officials in northeast China have accused the U.S. of launching cyberattacks during the Asian Winter Games in February.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 15, 2025
China accuses U.S. of launching 'advanced' cyberattacks and names alleged NSA agents
The report contained a considerable amount of detail on the cyberattacks and the alleged individuals involved.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic