GMO Internet Chief Admits Security Flaws Flagged 2 Years Ago
Tokyo, Nov. 2 (Jiji Press)—Masatoshi Kumagai, chairman and group CEO of GMO Internet Group Inc., which has been mired in an unauthorized access incident involving its servers, said Monday that the company had failed to address security flaws flagged two years ago.
GMO Internet Group Inc., plagued by an unauthorized access incident, acknowledged on Monday that it failed to address security flaws flagged two years ago by experts from its subsidiary, GMO Cybersecurity. Chairman and CEO Masatoshi Kumagai apologized to customers and affected parties during his first press conference since announcing the unauthorized access last month.
The company's response to the incident has been criticized, with Kumagai stating that the group's prioritization of stable service operations over security analysis led to the inadequate handling of the situation. GMO revealed that the unauthorized access to servers used for foreign exchange margin trading cloud services occurred on August 5, with attackers gaining administrator privileges and accessing a management server on August 17.
It was only on October 20, after a customer inquiry prompted an investigation, that the group became aware of the unauthorized access. Despite conducting four emergency maintenance operations, the cyberattack could not be prevented. Personal information believed to belong to a GMO Internet customer was exposed online on October 27, following the demand for a $50 million ransom from the alleged attackers.
Written by urgent.news from The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
