Japan’s Government Websites Targeted by Suspected Pro-Russian Hackers

September 7th, 2022

Awake Goy

Japan has initiated a probe into cyberattacks on government websites, for which a pro-Russian hacker group has reportedly claimed responsibility, according to local reports.

Japan’s digital agency said Wednesday that its e-Gov website—which provides administrative information—and several other ministry websites were inaccessible from around noon on Sept. 6.

The websites were restored later that day. The agency stated that the attacks did not compromise any personal information, local media Asahi Shimbun reported.

Pro-Russian hacker group “Killnet” claimed responsibility for the attacks later that day via its social media account, saying that it was “revolting against Japan’s militarism,” Kyodo News reported.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Wednesday that authorities are investigating the cause of the website access failure and whether the group was involved in the attacks.

Japanese authorities suspected that hackers used a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack to overload websites with a large amount of data and blocked users from accessing the websites.

Killnet Listed on CISA’s Advisory

Killnet is a pro-Russian group that has targeted nations that have backed Ukraine following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in its advisory that Killnet was among those Russian-aligned cybercrime groups that “pose a threat to critical infrastructure organizations.”

CISA cited a March incident in which Killnet claimed responsibility for carrying out a DDoS attack against a U.S. airport after the United States provided material support to Ukraine.

Killnet also claimed credit for a cyberattack on Lithuania’s public and private websites in June after the nation restricted the transit of steel and ferrous metals under the European Union sanctions against Russia.

Japan has imposed a slew of sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, including sanctions targeting Putin and several other Russian leaders. It also restricted exports of certain goods to the country and banned Russian banks from the SWIFT global interbank network.

Japan also supplied Ukraine with defense equipment, such as bulletproof vests and helmets, and pledged to accept Ukrainian refugees even if they have no relatives in Japan.