Japanese companies are a prime target for nation-state attacks

A new report from cloud risk and detection specialist Rapid7 reveals that Japanese businesses have become a significant target for state-sponsored cyberattacks.

This increased vulnerability has been driven by a fragile global economy and increased political and diplomatic tensions. The Japanese automotive industry and financial services sectors are of particular interest to these actors due to their global reach.

Rapid7 researchers observed that, as of late 2022 and early 2023, LockBit 3.0 ransomware operators have been specifically targeting Japanese organizations -- particularly Japanese manufacturers. The prevalence of manufacturing within Japan makes it the leading target for ransomware groups and nation states, whereas healthcare is the most common target in other parts of the world.

"Japan has really high quality industries. The automotive industry, for example, has a lot of subsidiaries around the world and communication with them is in English. We hear about an attack on maybe a subsidiary, which would probably be aimed at the main company in Japan. It's the supply chain approach," says Christiaan Beek, senior director of threat analytics at Rapid7. "We see also that the finance and cryptocurrency industry in Japan is massively under attack."

The report notes that many of the most recent compromises of Japanese companies began with unauthorized access to a subsidiary, at which point the attacker was able to move laterally into the parent company’s network.

There are a number of recommendations in the report to help companies reduce their risk of exposure to threats. Beek believes the government has a role to play too, "The Japanese government is also really turning to legislation and regulations to make things safer. For example they've passed a law that IoT devices must meet certain requirements."

Educating employees about the risks is also important. "If you want to break into a company HQ you would create a Word document, with back doors, that appears to be coming from one of your subsidiaries, about pricing increases due to the global situation. So you'll get everybody to open it and that's the challenge we're facing. It's becoming an even bigger issue with artificial intelligence technologies that can make it easier for criminals," adds Beek.

The full report is available from the Rapid7 site.

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