GMO’s CEO Kumagai to hold news conference Monday on cyberattack

GMO Internet Group CEO Masatoshi Kumagai and other executives will address a series of unauthorized access incidents during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday. The company will provide details on the cyberattack on its Onamae.com Desktop Cloud service, which facilitates automated foreign exchange margin trading, as well as its response to affected customers and future prevention measures. This marks the first news conference for the company since the unauthorized access incidents were made public.

Several users of GMO's foreign exchange margin trading services have reported significant financial losses due to the cyberattack. A 20-year-old worker from Aichi Prefecture experienced unauthorized transactions that resulted in a loss of ¥4.3 million, amounting to nearly all of her account's assets. The incident occurred around 5 a.m. when 50 trades were executed within a three-minute span.

The worker expressed her distrust in internet services, stating, "I now feel uneasy about all kinds of services connected to the internet."

Another victim, a 58-year-old trader from Fukui Prefecture, suffered a loss of ¥680,000. His transaction history revealed trades involving currencies he typically did not trade, such as the South African rand and Danish krone. The trader expressed his distrust towards GMO, alleging that the company was aware of system vulnerabilities for some time but did nothing to address them. He also mentioned that his computer may have been infected with a virus, causing him to struggle with his work.

A 39-year-old public servant from Niigata Prefecture lost approximately ¥1 million in investments intended for his children's education and family future. The cyberattack not only affected his finances but also his mental well-being, leaving him devastated as the funds he had saved for years were gone in just a few minutes. The trader stated that the loss has caused great anxiety and distress, as his hard work to secure a future for his family has now become a source of worry.