- 14 Mar 2002
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According to Akamai Technologies, Japan experienced a record surge in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks last month, with businesses targeted by a 60% increase in these network-flooding cyberattacks compared to the previous year. The volume and intensity of these attacks reached new highs, particularly impacting the financial sector, which saw a 4.1-fold jump in attacks, and the e-commerce sector, which experienced a 2.3-fold increase.
A concentrated wave of attacks hit financial institutions on 30 December. While the attacks subsided somewhat in early January, they have begun to rise again mid-month. These DDoS attacks disrupt online services by overwhelming them with traffic, and recent attacks have frequently involved data volumes of 1 to 3 terabits per second, as noted by Cloudflare.
A Japan Airlines cyberattack on 26 December, which disrupted flights for several hours, is suspected to have been a DDoS attack. While DDoS attacks are often associated with hacktivists, no group has claimed responsibility. One security expert suggested that the scale and duration of the attacks point to a well-resourced perpetrator, potentially with "national backing," even if they remain anonymous. Trend Micro reports that 60 Japanese organizations, including JAL and major banks, were targeted by cyberattacks between late last year and 24 January.
Paywall alert:
A concentrated wave of attacks hit financial institutions on 30 December. While the attacks subsided somewhat in early January, they have begun to rise again mid-month. These DDoS attacks disrupt online services by overwhelming them with traffic, and recent attacks have frequently involved data volumes of 1 to 3 terabits per second, as noted by Cloudflare.
A Japan Airlines cyberattack on 26 December, which disrupted flights for several hours, is suspected to have been a DDoS attack. While DDoS attacks are often associated with hacktivists, no group has claimed responsibility. One security expert suggested that the scale and duration of the attacks point to a well-resourced perpetrator, potentially with "national backing," even if they remain anonymous. Trend Micro reports that 60 Japanese organizations, including JAL and major banks, were targeted by cyberattacks between late last year and 24 January.
Paywall alert:
Japan hit with record barrage of cyberattacks
December onslaught mainly targets finance and e-commerce