Arab News Japan

TOKYO: The Japanese ministry of economy, trade and industry (METI) advised company executives to further enhance their cybersecurity efforts to deal with continued cyberattacks with increasing severity and origin taking advantage of the number of expanded teleworkers due to the effects of the novel coronavirus.

“As more and more companies advance their connections to overseas bases, and are connecting their domestic systems to overseas counterparts, attacks are increasing. Overseas bases with insufficient security measures are more likely to become a target for attackers to build routes of entry into domestic systems. Business partners and Japanese companies’ overseas entities may contain unguarded points in their networks,” METI said.

In particular, the number of victims suffering from ransomware attacks using a so-called “double extortion” method is rapidly increasing in Japan. Attackers request a ransom not only for recovery of data that they have encrypted but also for non-disclosure of any stolen data, The establishment of attackers’ ecosystems, in which they are able to provide ransomware and collect ransoms, allows attackers to easily execute such attacks without a need for enhanced skills.

The Japanese ministry stressed that responses require the leadership of company executives in the process ranging from preparatory measures to post-incident measures. “Company executives should establish global governance of their businesses taking cybersecurity into consideration and thoroughly conduct activities in accordance with the Basic Three Actions that Companies should Take (“Share, Report, Announce”).