Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry of Japan has disclosed that the cyber attacks made on their nation’s critical infrastructure touched the mark of 128 billion- a 2.4 fold increase from the previous year. And the Ministry added in their announcement that half of the attacks were launched from China.
Initially, the primary targets of the hackers were Internet of Things (IoT) related devices, such as webcams and routers meant for home use. Then from mid-2016, their focus shifted on public utility systems which include government websites and power grids.
As Internet of Things has less protection against cyber threats such as viruses, we can come to a conclusion that IoT appliances are acting as stepping stones for infecting government’s critical IT infrastructure.
Smart TVs, CCTV cameras on a public network, Smart Phones, and Computer PCs topped the list of IoT which were targeted by hackers.
The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) admitted that the statement given by the Japan Ministry was true and the threat from nations like Russia and China was increasing at an alarming rate.
NICT proposed some measures to counter such cyber attacks to government agencies. It said that there were some sensors installed on domestic networks to monitor such attacks. Now the organizations want the government agencies to prop up these sensors with efficient software tools which could not only detect the attacks but can also fend them off in a proactive way.
By and large, Japan is considered as an ‘Electronics Hub’ of the world, the nation’s financial influx is gained mostly from electronics. If the nation’s fails to defend cyber attacks, then all such cyber attacks could lead to a political and financial instability within no time.
To counter such issues, Japan is said to have increased the strength of the cyber security teams meant to save the nation’s critical infrastructure from cyber threats. It is said that the teams working under the umbrella of National Security are fending off over 500,000 cyber attacks on a daily note.
More details will be updated shortly!
