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It is believed that China’s army has ordered a hacker group to carry out cyber attacks on nearly 200 Japanese research institutions and companies, public broadcaster NHK. reported, referring to unknown people in a police investigation.
Investigators found that a member of the Chinese Communist Party made contracts under a false name for rental servers in Japan that were used in the attacks on the Japanese space agency JAXA in 2016, the broadcaster said on Tuesday.
Investigators believe the cyberattacks were carried out by a group known as Tick on behalf of the People’s Liberation Army. Two men involved in contracts for the servers have left Japan, NHK said.
A Chinese systems engineer in his thirties, who is a member of the Chinese Communist Party, has been referred to prosecutors for his alleged involvement in the attacks, Kyodo News reported, citing unnamed sources.
The reported allegations, the latest in a series of similar incidents, come amid increasingly difficult relations between Japan and its largest trading partner. The topic of ties with China dominated the agenda during Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s summit with US President Joe Biden in Washington last week.
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The general secretary of Japan, Katsunobu Kato, declined to comment on the investigation. He told a regular newsletter on Tuesday that cyberattacks on infrastructure are becoming more organized and that the government’s response to such incidents is a major issue.
Wang Wenbin, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in response to a question about the NHK report during a regular news conference in Beijing. Later, Wang added that cyberspace consists of many actors whose origins are difficult to trace and are warned to make. accusations in cyber security cases.
‘When indicating an incident, there must be sufficient evidence. “It cannot be based on suspicion,” he said. “We are against other countries smearing us about cybersecurity or using this issue to serve its despicable political agenda.”
Cyberattacks are a common threat to all countries, and China has also been a victim, he added.
A JAXA spokesman confirmed that it was the subject of an unauthorized access that was apparently a cyber attack, but according to NHK suffered no damage. Japan has been trying to improve its cyber defense for the past few months.
– With help from Go Onomitsu and Colum Murphy
(Updates with the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s comments from the seventh paragraph)