Japan internet giant GMO says hackers posted stolen customer data

Japanese internet company GMO Internet is investigating a data breach after unauthorized access to its Onamae cloud desktop service, which provides virtualized desktops to financial traders. The company reported that a suspected attacker published information allegedly linked to its customers and business, though the full extent of the incident remains unclear. GMO advised customers to reset their passwords amid reports of unauthorized operations on customer trading accounts, and said 27,000 servers may be affected. The breach timeline began on October 21, when GMO shut down the Onamae Desktop Cloud service and received a ransom demand of approximately 8 billion yen (~$50 million) from hackers. The company reported the incident to Japanese police the next day and subsequently began collecting customer devices to detect malware. The incident comes about a week after GMO's cybersecurity unit separately found evidence that a Chinese AI-enabled penetration testing tool called Artex had been used in hacks targeting Japanese companies, though GMO has not publicly established a connection between Artex and the Onamae breach. Artex was also used to attack financial institutions in South Korea in September, according to a CrowdStrike report. Japan's Financial Service Agency had issued guidance in May urging financial institutions to strengthen basic cyber defenses including vulnerability management, defense-in-depth, and incident preparedness.

(Source：TechCrunch)