Cyberattacks have affected a range of public and private institutions in the country recently, including rail operators, car manufacturers, karaoke chains and even the police.

Japan’s financial regulator and its finance minister have asked banks to improve protections against fraud after a series of cyberattacks rattled the country in recent years.

The country’s Financial Services Agency issued a warning to financial institutions on Friday (9 October) urging them to take “appropriate measures”, by reviewing their current cybersecurity defences – including third-party risk management and response systems – and responding to any shortcomings with necessary measures.

In a press conference on the same day, the country’s finance minister Satsuki Katayama said that banks should implement appropriate verification mechanisms when new bank accounts are opened, including by mandating ID cards with chips.

“In recent years, there have been a series of unauthorised access incidents in various industries, resulting in numerous cyber incidents in which customer information, including images of identity verification documents, has been leaked,” Katayama said in the press conference.

Cyberattacks have affected a range of public and private institutions in the country, including rail operators, car manufacturers, karaoke chains and even the police.

Late last month, Times Car Rental – a popular Japanese car-sharing service – announced that a data breach affected some 6.6m accounts. Lawson, a convenience store chain, reported last week that 2.15m customer records were illegally accessed in a breach, with names, emails and credit card details potentially leaked in the incident.

Between January and June this year, Japan saw a total of 123 recorded cases of ransomware attacks.

Other official bodies, including the country’s National Cybersecurity Office, have also issued a warning to businesses asking them to promptly consider further security measures, including those of their contractors, to quickly address vulnerabilities and strengthen authentication functions. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications also issued a similar warning to businesses and other organisations under its jurisdiction.

In an emergency meeting convened last Friday, the head of the National Cybersecurity Strategy Headquarters and former digital minister Masaaki Taira called the situation a “state of emergency in [the] cyberspace”.

According to cybersecurity experts cited by the Financial Times, Japan is more vulnerable to hackers because of its ageing population with comparatively poorer security practices, while the country’s businesses have also lagged in digitising their systems.

Japan isn’t alone in facing a barrage of cyberattacks in recent years. Across Europe, a number of government websites have been targeted in attacks, including those of Spain, Norway, Germany and the European Commission.

Last week, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it had been the target of a recent cyberattack, while Danish authorities alerted the public to an “extremely serious” cyber incident after hackers secured access to the personal information of around 8.8m people.

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