Cyberattack: Japan probes possible involvement of pro-Russian group

Japan is investigating the possible involvement of a pro-Russian group in a cyberattack on multiple of its government websites.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Wednesday that more than 20 websites across four government ministries could not be accessed on Tuesday evening but were restored on the same day.

The government has not identified any information leaks and was looking into whether the failure was caused by a denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, he added.

According to reports, the pro-Russian group “Killnet” said on social media it was responsible for the attack.

“We are aware that the (Killnet) hacker group suggested it was behind an attack, but at the moment we are still investigating the cause of the failure, including its involvement,” Matsuno said at a daily news briefing.

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“We understand that the (Killnet) hacker group has threatened several countries of cyberattacks, and that some say they are linked to the Russian government. Given our position as the government, we will not respond to that,” he added.

The attack temporarily blocked access to websites, including the Digital Agency’s e-Gov administrative portal, NHK said.

In a DDoS attack hackers attempt to flood a network with unusually high volumes of data traffic in order to paralyse it.

Zainab Sa’id