Security News > 2023 > November > Japanese Space Agency JAXA hacked in summer cyberattack
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency was hacked in a cyberattack over the summer, which may have put sensitive space-related technology and data at risk.
The security breach was discovered this autumn when law enforcement authorities alerted Japan's space agency that its systems were compromised, as first reported by The Yomiuri Shimbun.
Although no data leak linked to the JAXA breach has been confirmed, a JAXA official expressed concerns, stating, "As long as the AD server was hacked, it was very likely that most of the information was visible. This is a very serious situation."
While the cyberattack has yet to be attributed, it aligns with a concerted cyberespionage effort to harvest and steal sensitive information stored on the agency's servers.
Established in 2003, JAXA is Japan's national aerospace research and development institution.
In September 2023, US and Japanese law enforcement and cybersecurity agencies warned in a joint advisory that Chinese state-backed BlackTech hackers were backdooring corporate network devices.