GMO asks government to take active cyberdefense measures

GMO Internet has made an urgent request for the Japanese government to implement active cyberdefense operations following an unauthorized access incident, sources have said.

GMO Internet has revealed that there was unauthorized access to its servers for automated FX currency margin trading. A total of 26,739 such servers may have been affected, and user login information may have been stolen. It shut down all servers on Wednesday.

Since some users have reported losses from unauthorized transactions on their accounts following the incident, the company said Saturday that it will compensate users for these losses.

The company also plans to make a consolation payment of ¥5,000 to all users, regardless of whether they have suffered financial damage.

GMO Internet revealed that it had received a demand for money from who is believed to be responsible for the unauthorized access, and that the possible attacker is threatening to release its information if it rejects the demand.

The company indicated its intention to reject the demand, adding that it has requested a police investigation.      

On Oct. 1, the government began operations under the active cyberdefense system, which involves the Self-Defense Forces and police pre-emptively breaking into an attacker’s server to neutralize it and prevent damage.

Following Saturday’s urgent request, GMO Internet said that defense measures and responses by private business operators alone can hardly eradicate highly skilled cybercrime organizations that steal people’s assets.