China Allegedly Gained Access to Japanese Networks for an Extended Period of Time
According to a recent report by the Washington Post, it appears that Japan’s decision to expand its military cyber defense unit last year may have been prompted by the discovery of Chinese hackers having extensive and long-lasting access to Japanese defense networks. The breach was initially detected by the National Security Agency in late 2020, leading to the visit of NSA Chief and Commander of US Cyber Command General Paul Nakasone, accompanied by White House deputy national security advisor Matthew Pottinger, to Japan in order to inform officials about the breach.
Despite press conferences that even reached Japan’s prime minister, the Washington Post reported that hacking from China was a problem for several months and continued until the end of the Trump administration and into early 2021.
The US Cyber Command initially offered Japan help in ridding its systems of malware, but reportedly declined because the country was not comfortable with another country’s military accessing their systems. Instead, Japan chose to use domestic commercial security firms to find vulnerabilities, relying only on the United States for guidance on what those firms found. Japan would eventually implement a more active national security strategy, said to include a new cyber command to monitor networks around the clock and up to 4,000 active cyber security personnel.
