The websites of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and several local governments experienced system failures earlier this week. Officials suspect these issues may result from a widespread cyberattack launched from overseas. One of the first reported problems occurred on the Yamanashi prefectural government’s website, which was difficult to access from 3:15 p.m. to 7:35 p.m. on October 16.
A prefectural official said the site received about 6.2 million visits from 69 countries by 5 p.m. “There may have been an attack that generated such a large volume of communications that the service became unavailable,” the official said. The government of Nanao city in Ishikawa Prefecture also confirmed website issues around 4 p.m. The company that maintains and manages the website notified the city that a high traffic concentration was causing problems. Other municipalities that reported similar issues on October 16 include Hanamaki in Iwate Prefecture, Adachi, Suginami, and Arakawa wards in Tokyo, Fujisawa and Odawara in Kanagawa Prefecture, Ninomiya town in Kanagawa Prefecture, Mito, and Hiroshima.
Michinoku Bank in Aomori City also experienced accessibility issues with its website after 3 p.m. that day. The bank has prepared an alternative website and is investigating the possibility of a cyberattack.
Suspected cyberattack disrupts Japanese services
Local government officials suspect they are victims of “DDoS attacks,” which are malicious attempts to disrupt internet-related services by sending overwhelming amounts of data. A pro-Russian cyberattack group has reportedly been publishing a list of Japanese local governments and private organizations as “attack targets” on social media and other sites for several days. Some local governments and organizations on the list have confirmed system failures.
On October 15, the day campaigning for the Lower House election officially started, the LDP’s website experienced difficulties. The top page of the party’s website was difficult to access from about 4:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. An LDP representative said the cause of the problem is under investigation. However, there were no connection issues with a special website for the Lower House election.
Local officials continue to investigate the causes and origins of these cyberattacks as they work to restore standard service and protect against future incidents. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiko Aoki mentioned that the country’s cyber agencies had implemented relevant security measures and are investigating the incident. He also stated that the government is aware of the hackers‘ statements, adding that any actions undermining fair elections “will never be tolerated by any organization, group, or individual in Japan.
