Nikkei Asia (May 16) reported that Japan's National Police Agency Commissioner-General Mitsuhiro Matsumoto at a meeting of senior police officers from across the nation on April 23 in Tokyo, for the first time identified China as responsible for a cyberattack on Japan. Two days before the April 22 news conference, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department filed a case against a Chinese systems engineer, who is also a member of the Chinese Communist Party, for allegedly taking part in cyberattacks that targeted the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and 200 other Japanese companies and research institutions in 2016 and 2017. The suspect, who has already fled Japan, used a fake ID to register a web server in the country for cyberattacks against JAXA, according to Tokyo police, which also pointed out the likelihood that the PLA was involved in the far-reaching cyberattack. Japan's National Police Agency Commissioner-General Mitsuhiro Matsumoto said at the conference on April 23 that a Chinese hacker group called Tick carried out the attacks and that "It's highly likely that the PLA's Unit 61419 -- a strategic support unit operating from the Chinese city of Qingdao in Shandong Province -- was involved in the cyber espionage." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded "China is firmly opposed to any country or institution [using allegations of] cyberattacks to throw mud at China."
|
