Chinese hackers ‘instructed by military’ blamed for hundreds of cyberattacks in Japan

Investigators believe the cyberattacks were carried out by a group known as Tick under the instruction of the People’s Liberation Army

The allegations, the latest in a series of similar incidents, come amid increasingly difficult relations between Japan and its biggest trading partner

Reading Time:2 minutes

Investigators believe the cyberattacks were carried out by a group known as Tick under the instruction of the People’s Liberation Army. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 10:06am, 20 Apr 2021Updated: 9:26pm, 20 Apr 2021

China’s military is thought to have instructed a hacker group to conduct cyberattacks on nearly 200 Japanese research institutions and firms, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing unidentified people in a police investigation.

The investigators found a member of China’s Communist Party made contracts under a false name for rental servers in Japan that were used in the attacks on the Japanese space agency JAXA in 2016, the broadcaster said on 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 with contracts for the servers have left Japan, NHK said.

US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga are seen on a screen at their joint press conference at the White House last week. Photo: Xinhua

The reported allegations, the latest in a series of similar incidents, come amid increasingly difficult relations between Japan and its biggest trading partner. The topic of ties with China dominated the agenda at Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s summit with US President Joe Biden in Washington last week.

Japan’s government has not yet made a public comment on the report. It will hold a regular morning press briefing at which it may address the matter.

China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.