25 billion Cyberattacks hit systems in Japan during 2014

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology revealed that more than 25 billion cyberattacks hit  systems in Japan during 2014.

I decided to write this post to highlight the importance of a cybersecurity posture for any government. When the majority of people thinks to cybersecurity, has no idea of principal cyber threats and their effect on the infrastructure of a country, in this post we will try to give a quantitative analysis of the phenomena on one of the most technological country, the Japan. The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), which has a network of a quarter of a million sensors, said there were 25.66 billion attempts to compromise systems, according to a report by Kyodo News.

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) revealed that Japanese government offices and other entities suffered more than 25.66 billion of attacks in 2014. 

Kyodo News reported that a network of a quarter of a million sensors has detected the amazing number of attempts to compromise country systems. The number of attacks is in exponential growth, in 2005, when the analysis was made for the first time, the overall number of attacks was 310 million. It should be emphasized that the figure also includes cyber attacks conducted as part of penetration tests conducted by experts.

Personally, I am always reluctant to consider absolutely these figures, however, it is interesting to note the percentage increase of the attacks. The finding is consistent with data provided by the numerous reports published by the various security companies.

Giving a close look to the category of attacks that hit the systems in Japan, the experts at NICT confirmed that among most targeted infrastructure there were Internet of Things devices, including routers, security cameras and other systems connected to the Internet.

China was the primary source of attacks against the Japan, 40 percent of the attempts of attack was originated in China, while among other sources figure the South Korea, the Russia and the United States.

We cannot forget that an increase in the number of attacks corresponds to an increase of the costs incurred by the governments, by the private companies and by the population.

Recent cases of the Sony Pictures hack and the recent attack uncovered by Kaspersky against financial institutions have demonstrated the severity of the cyber attacks suffered by victims.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs –  Japan, Cybersecurity)