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The Chinese military is believed to have instructed a group of hackers to carry out cyberattacks on nearly 200 Japanese research institutions and companies, public broadcaster NHK he reported, citing unidentified people in a police investigation.
Investigators found that a member of the Communist Party of China made contracts with a false name for rental servers in Japan that were used in the attacks on Japan’s space agency JAXA in 2016, the network said Tuesday.
Investigators believe the cyberattacks were carried out by a group known as Tick under the instruction of the People’s Liberation Army. Two men involved in server contracts have left Japan, according to NHK.
A 30-year-old Chinese systems engineer, a member of the Chinese Communist Party, was referred to prosecutors for his alleged involvement in the attacks, Kyodo News reported, citing unnamed investigative 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 issue of ties with China dominated the agenda of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s summit with US President Joe Biden in Washington last week.
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Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Katsunobu Kato, declined to comment on the investigation. He reported on Tuesday that he regularly reported that cyberattacks on infrastructure were increasingly organized and the government considered the response to these incidents to be a major problem.
In response to a question about the NHK report on the alleged suspect at a regular briefing in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said he was unaware of the case. Wang later added that cyberspace is made up of many actors whose origins are difficult to trace and warned them not to do so. accusations in cybersecurity cases.
“When designating an incident, there must be sufficient evidence. It cannot be based on presumption, “he said.” We are against other countries soiling our cybersecurity or using this issue to serve their despicable political agenda. “
Cyberattacks are a common threat to all countries and China was also a victim, he added.
A JAXA spokesman confirmed that he was the subject of unauthorized access which appeared to be a cyberattack, but that he was not harmed, according to NHK. Japan has been trying to strengthen its cyber defenses in recent months.
– With the assistance of Go Onomitsu and Colum Murphy
(Updates with comments from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the seventh paragraph)