Defence China hacked Japan’s sensitive defence networks in 2020

[thomas]

The Washington Post reported today that in 2020 Japan's National Security Agency made the alarming discovery that Chinese military hackers had compromised classified Japanese defence networks. Cyberspies from the People's Liberation Army had wormed their way into Japan's most sensitive computer systems.

The hackers had deep, persistent access. They appeared to be after anything they could get their hands on — plans, capabilities, assessments of military shortcomings, according to three former senior U.S. officials, who were among a dozen current and former U.S. Japanese officials interviewed, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity. "It was bad — shockingly bad," recalled one former U.S. military official, who was briefed on the event, which has not been previously reported. Tokyo has taken steps to strengthen its networks. But they are still deemed not sufficiently secure from Beijing's prying eyes, which, officials say, could impede greater intelligence-sharing between the Pentagon and Japan's Defense Ministry. The 2020 penetration was so disturbing that Gen. Paul Nakasone, the head of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command, and Matthew Pottinger, who was White House deputy national security adviser at the time, raced to Tokyo. They briefed the defence minister, who was so concerned that he arranged for them to alert the prime minister himself.

By early 2021, the Biden administration had settled in, and cybersecurity and defence officials realized the problem had festered. The Chinese were still in Tokyo's networks. Since then, under American scrutiny, the Japanese have announced they are ramping up network security, boosting the cybersecurity budget tenfold over the next five years and increasing their military cybersecurity force fourfold to 4,000 people.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/07/china-japan-hack-pentagon/

 

[thomas]

Reacting to yesterday's WP report Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said that no leaks of confidential security information have been confirmed.

Perhaps they just haven't been detected yet?

"Japan and the United States have been closely communicating with each other at various levels," Hamada told a news conference. "I refrain from discussing details given the nature of the issue, but no leaks of confidential information held by the Defense Ministry have been confirmed." Hamada said Japan's capabilities to deal with cyberattacks would be revealed if he explained the attacks that the nation has suffered and the responses it has taken.

Defense chief: No leaks confirmed from reported Chinese attack | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

 

[musicisgood]

The US and the JSDF has agreements on what are shared at levels of national security between both countries.
I know years ago around all US military bases in Japan, anyone that lived near them was monitored not to be foreign spies.