Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric targeted in cyberattack blamed on Chinese hackers
In a brief statement published today on its website, Mitsubishi Electric, one of the largest electronic and electrical equipment manufacturers in the world, has revealed a major security breach.
The attack appears to have occurred on June 28, 2019, and was investigated months later. Just now, after two local newspapers published a statement about the attack, the company decided to talk about it.
Both publications attributed the hack to a China-linked online spy group called Tick or Bronze Butler, known in the cybersecurity industry, for attacking Japan in recent years. The hack was discovered after Mitsubishi Electric employees found a suspicious file on one of the company's servers.
From this entry point, the hackers expanded to the internal systems of Mitsubishi Electric, where they were able to access networks of about 14 of the company's departments, such as sales and the main administrative office.
Secret data was also stolen from the company's internal network, about 200MB of files, most of which are commercial documents. Apparently, they stole data from their business associates and defense contracts, which eliminated access records, which slowed down the investigators.
In Japan, the accident is handled with the utmost seriousness due to the fact that Mitsubishi Electric is one of the country's largest defense and infrastructure companies. Data can also facilitate terrorist operations, as there are data related to telecommunications infrastructure, railways, and the electricity grid.
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