North Korea hackers behind Japan’s massive GMO data leak, investigation finds
An analysis by Japan’s GMO Internet Group found that a North Korea-linked hacking group was likely behind the cyberattack on the company last month, sources close to the matter said, citing characteristics of the malware used and other traces left by the perpetrators. The company appears to have already reported the matter to the government and will now focus on determining the full…
Japanese investigation reveals North Korean hackers were behind the massive GMO data leak, according to sources close to the matter. The GMO Internet Group reportedly reported the incident to the government and will now focus on determining the full circumstances. Cybersecurity experts found that the attack originated from five IP addresses that had previously been used by a North Korean hacking group.
The website claiming responsibility for the attack contained traces linking it to multiple countries, including the United States and Japan, indicating a possible attempt to mislead investigators through a false flag operation. Further analysis showed that the domain and hosting server of the website were acquired from a US company and set to English, while the visitor logs file contained Japanese text suggesting AI-generated content.
The files on the site were created using software developed in China. Additionally, a website for victims to share information showed similarities to the responsible party's claim of responsibility website. The attacker may have sought to gather information from victims through this forum. The information-sharing website became available two days before the cyberattack was made public.
The leaked information included customer data for GMO's foreign exchange trading service, which was used in fraudulent transactions. The hacker threatened to disclose more customer information and carry out a ransomware attack. Customer information of at least 45,000 people at client companies was also leaked through GMO GlobalSign's employee ID management service.
Japanese and US defense ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation in dealing with cyberattacks following the recent large-scale breaches.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
