Japan hit by series of cyberattacks and data breaches
Tokyo (ANTARA) - Several Japanese companies and a university have reported data breaches or cyberattacks since Monday, potentially affecting millions of customers, members, students, and faculty members in a series of separate incidents.
Osaka Metropolitan University stated on Monday that the data of at least 130,000 students and faculty members may have been leaked following a cyberattack that caused system failures at the institution. The university explained that approximately 500 servers supporting the university’s information system ceased operations following a suspected ransomware attack last Friday (2/10).
The campus network for students and the portal site for teaching staff remained unusable until Monday, while lectures were forced to be suspended.
The operator of the Japanese discount store chain, Mr. Max Holdings Ltd., announced on Tuesday (6/10) that personal data from up to 1.7 million customers may have been leaked due to unauthorised access to servers handling the company’s online shopping services. The retailer subsequently suspended its services temporarily, blocked the attack vector, and is working with external security specialists, regulators, and the police to conduct an investigation and intensify monitoring.
Meanwhile, Japanese internet service provider GMO Research & AI Inc. revealed on Monday that data belonging to up to 948,500 members was stolen due to unauthorised access to the company’s servers. According to the company, reward points belonging to several members, valued at approximately 2.9 million yen (1 yen = Rp11,363), were illegally exchanged for Amazon gift card codes.
Monogatari Corp., which operates the Yakiniku King barbecue restaurant chain, stated on Monday that more than 10 million pieces of customer information, covering almost its entire registered user base, were leaked due to unauthorised access to the smartphone application support system for restaurant reservations and reward programmes. The leaked information includes email addresses and telephone numbers, the company noted, adding that there has been no confirmation regarding the misuse of the data.
Daiwa Securities Group Inc. also stated on the same Monday that data from approximately 110,000 customers of its securities brokerage unit, along with other non-personal information, may have been leaked due to unauthorised access to servers operated by one of its contractors. The company stated that although the leak occurred, the information cannot be used to conduct transactions, including online transactions.
These incidents were reported separately by the involved organisations, and there is no indication from the information disclosed so far to suggest that the incidents are linked to the same cyberattack.