Security News
The port of Nagoya - which shifted 2.68 million shipping containers and 164 million tons of cargo in 2022 - has moved precious few in the last 24 hours after finding itself the latest victim of Russia's notorious LockBit ransomware gang. Japanese media have reported substantial disruptions at the port and named LockBit as the culprit.
The Port of Nagoya, the largest and busiest port in Japan, has been targeted in a ransomware attack that currently impacts the operation of container terminals.Today, the administrative authority of the Port of Nagoya has issued a notice about a malfunction in the "Nagoya Port Unified Terminal System" - the central system controlling all container terminals in the port.
Asia In Brief Japan's government last Friday rebuked Fujitsu for shabby cloud security. Fujitsu operates a cloud called "FENICS" and in February 2023 admitted that in December 2022 it had detected network misconfigurations that allowed unauthorized remote access to the service.
Fujitsu Japan is in the spotlight again for all the wrong reasons, after fumbling its attempt to fix the nation's troubled ID card scheme. One use of the cards is to arrange for administrative documents to be printed at convenience stores or government offices.
Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida has ordered an emergency review of the nation's ID Cards, amid revelations of glitches and data leaks that threaten the government's digital services push. Japanese media reports that people with similar names are receiving cards intended for other people, while some recipients found the card links to records describing someone else.
Linux routers in Japan are the target of a new Golang remote access trojan called GobRAT. "Initially, the attacker targets a router whose WEBUI is open to the public, executes scripts possibly by using vulnerabilities, and finally infects the GobRAT," the JPCERT Coordination Center said in a report published today. The compromise of an internet-exposed router is followed by the deployment of a loader script that acts as a conduit for delivering GobRAT, which, when launched, masquerades as the Apache daemon process to evade detection.
Japan's minister for digital transformation and digital reform, Tono Karo, has apologized after a government app breached citizens' privacy. Fujitsu Japan developed and operates the service, which preps PDF files in response to user requests and then despatches them to printers in convenience stores.
According to Mandiant, who has tracked APT43 since 2018, the threat actor aligns with the mission of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, the main foreign intelligence service from North Korea. In particular, malware and tools have been shared between APT43 and the infamous Lazarus threat actor.
A Monday post from FTX Japan states the outfit plans to allow withdrawals from an unspecified moment in February, through the Liquid web site. In 2022 Japan again passed crypto-related laws as it sought to deal with stablecoins and the rise of NFTs. The result of all that lawmaking is that crypto exchanges in Japan are required to register with the Financial Services Agency, demonstrate they can comply with anti-money-laundering laws and similar regulations, set aside capital reserves, and separate customer and exchange assets.
Japan is also revising its cyber security strategy according to Nikkei. Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency announced last week it has started conceptualizing a satellite refueling service with private Japanese orbital debris removal company, Astroscale.