Hackers redirect Japanese consulate's e-mails
More than 1,000 e-mails sent to the Japanese consulate in Hong Kong early this month could have been intercepted due to a security breach at an internet service provider, which an expert fears could involve more local companies.
The glitch at KDDI Hong Kong is believed to have been caused by a rare case of hacking of its e-mail server which caused e-mails of its clients to be redirected to a third party.
The internet company discovered the loophole on August 1, one day after it emerged, but had spent two weeks to fix the problem. It said clients' e-mail services were affected 'in various periods' until last Thursday.
Roy Ko Wai-tak, manager of the Computer Emergency Response Team Co-ordination Centre (HKCert) said it appeared to be the first case in years of a provider's server being hacked and could be the 'tip of an iceberg'.
A spokesman for KDDI declined to reveal how many clients or e-mails were affected altogether and said it would report the case to police in due course. 'We have already switched over the e-mail server system and taken necessary security measures,' he said.
Mr Ko said the consulate was an obvious target for hackers.
'But if the attack is made at the ISP level, they can obtain information of other clients as well,' he said, adding that KDDI was not a major provider.
HKCert reported 292 hacking cases in the first seven months of this year, none involving an ISP's server.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry said the missing e-mails - sent between August 1 and 7 - were 'improperly redirected to the third party' but insisted they contained no internal information.
Deputy consul in Hong Kong Hiroshi Sato said the corrupted e-mails were sent for public inquiries while the mission had a closed- circuit e-mail system for classified information. '[The leak] should involve no secret information but it is possible to contain personal details of people who filed requests to us during the period,' he said.
He said the consulate still did not know how good the protection was that was introduced by KDDI to prevent a recurrence.
