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The Japanese governmentpublished an alert on Wednesdayaccusing a Formosan hacking grouping of place and breaching dozens of government organizations , company , and individuals in the state since 2019 .
Japan ’s National Police Agency and the National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity ascribe the years - long hacking spree to a group calledMirrorFace .
“ The MirrorFace attack run is an organized cyber attack suspected to be linked to China , with the primary objective of stealing information related to Japan ’s interior security and advanced technology , ” the government wrote in the alert , according to a machine interlingual rendition .
A longer rendering of the alertsaid the targets include Japan ’s Foreign and Defense ministry , the country ’s space authority , as well as politicians , journalists , secret companies and tech think tank , according to the Associated Press .
In July 2024 Japan ’s Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center ( JPCERT / CC)wrote in a blog postthat MirrorFace ’s “ targets were ab initio medium , political organisation , think tanks and universities , but it has shifted to manufacturer and research mental hospital since 2023 . ”
In 2022 , cybersecurity firmESET published researchdetailing a spearfishing electronic mail military campaign carried out by MirrorFace that targeted Japanese political entity and specific politicians forrader of election in the country . At the time , the company tell MirrorFace does not appear to be linked to other known Chinese government hack on groups .
Spearphishing is the same technique used by MirrorFace in the days - recollective campaign revealed on Wednesday . The alert order MirrorFace sent emails contain malicious attachment in three disjoined campaign : one from 2019 to 2023 targeting individuals turn for think tanks , fighting and retired politico , and journalists ; another campaign operate since 2023 point internet - connected meshwork equipment used in companies in the “ semiconductor , manufacture , information and communication , academic , and aerospace sector ; ” and a third starting around June 2024 that targeted “ academician , think tankful , pol , and the media ” in Japan ; allot to a machine transformation of the document .
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Japan , a long - clip ally of the United States , has a pacifist physical composition , whichexperts arguehas contributed to its limited capabilities in internet . In 2023,The Washington Post reportedthat the U.S. National Security Agency discovered in 2020 that Chinese military drudge had compromise some of the most sensitive classified defense mesh in Japan .
