Cyberattackers hit Japan military info

Information on military aircraft and nuclear power plants may have been stolen in a series of cyberattacks on Japanese defence contractor Mitsubishi Heavy.

Information on military aircraft and nuclear power plants may have been stolen in a series of cyberattacks on Japanese defence contractor Mitsubishi Heavy, a report said on Monday.

Mitsubishi Heavy said late last month that 83 computers at 11 of its facilities had been hit by cyberattacks but no leakage of information on products and technologies had been confirmed.

The Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported that additional checks on other computers at Mitsubishi Heavy facilitieshad shown traces of transmissions of information through some of the computers.

The daily, quoting unidentified officials, said part of the information concerned fighters and helicopters that the company is contracted to manufacture for the defence ministry.

"It is not known if these are classified as defence secrets," Asahi said.

Other pieces of information taken are likely to include the design, equipment and earthquake-resistant nature of nuclear power plants in which Mitsubishi Heavy was involved, the daily said.

Mitsubishi Heavy's public relations office said it could not confirm or deny the report.

Defence Minister Yasuo Ichikawa said in September there was no indication that sensitive information had been stolen as a result of the attacks on the firm's computers, which came to light in August.

More about: Mitsubishi

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the Computerworld comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: cyber attacks, cybercrime, military aircraft, Mitsubishi Heavy, nuclear power plants, security
Whitepapers
All whitepapers
Sign up now to get free exclusive access to reports, research and invitation only events.
Featured Download
/downloads/product/161/softdisc/

SoftDisc

SoftDisc is an image file tool that allows you to create, edit and manage your image files. It also lets you emulate a virtual CD ...

Computerworld newsletter

Join the most dedicated community for IT managers, leaders and professionals in Australia