Global implications of Japan-targeted cyberattacks examined

SecurityWeek reports that cyberattacks targeted at Japan's manufacturing base could have a global impact. Russian, Chinese, and North Korean state-sponsored threat operations could launch cyberespionage and ransomware operations against Japan, which is an attractive target due to manufacturers' IP, according to a Rapid7 report. While limited evidence of Russian retribution against Japan over the territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands has been found, Japanese government and private sector websites have been subjected to Killnet distributed denial-of-service attacks last September, while Toyota was impacted by a ransomware attack last February after Japan was warned by Russia against supporting sanctions over its conflict with Ukraine, said the report. Moreover, overseas subsidiaries of Japanese firms could also be targeted by threat actors with less complex social engineering attacks. "With these large and well-known Japanese brands, the attackers will often go after the overseas subsidiaries or affiliates, and then use the initial footholds to move laterally into the parent company in Japan," said Rapid7 Principal Security Analyst Paul Prudhomme, who authored the report.