Japan’s space agency, JAXA, confirmed that it had been the subject of a cyberattack.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson from Japan’s space agency, JAXA, disclosed that the organization had been targeted in a cyberattack. They assured that no sensitive data linked to satellite or rocket operations had been compromised following the cyberattack on JAXA.
According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) spokesperson, “There was a potential for unauthorized access through the exploitation of network equipment vulnerabilities.” However, she refrained from delving into specifics regarding the attack’s timeline, as reported by Reuters.
Cyberattack on JAXA
Upon receiving information from an external source and conducting an internal investigation, the space agency became aware of the potential unauthorized access.
The spokesperson, while confirming this, refrained from disclosing the identity of the third-party organization that provided the initial information regarding the cyberattack. The investigation remains ongoing.
It’s believed that the unauthorized access stemmed from a vulnerability exposed by a network equipment manufacturer in June this year, prompting the need for countermeasures like software updates.
Japanese media reports indicate the cyberattack occurred during the summer, with authorities informing JAXA about the incident in the fall. The Japanese daily Yomiuri was the first to report on this.
In an earlier joint statement in September, Japan and the US cautioned multinational corporations about the threats posed by BlackTech, a hacker group affiliated with China.
“BlackTech has demonstrated capabilities in modifying router firmware without detection and exploiting routers’ domain-trust relationships to pivot from international subsidiaries to headquarters in Japan and the United States, which are the primary targets,” the statement said, as reported by WION.
Japan held Chinese-sponsored hackers accountable in August for a cyberattack campaign that ran for months and targeted Japan’s National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC). It was discovered that the hackers might have had access to private information for up to nine months, spanning from last fall to June of this year.
China is increasingly targeting Japan as it strengthens its military and geopolitical connections with the US and other Asian allies. Strong doubts over Japan’s capacity to handle data securely have been voiced by government cyber security specialists in the US and the UK.
Increasing cyberattacks on critical infrastructure across the world is a matter of worry for enforcement agencies in various nations. Small steps like timely software updates can help protect against the evil eyes of cybercriminals. Also, sturdy cybersecurity solutions are the need of the hour when organizations across the world are getting super vulnerable to cyberattacks.
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