TOKYO (TR) – A relentless wave of cyberattacks has battered major Japanese corporations, compromising over 1.8 million personal records and sending terrified IT personnel scrambling to specialized cyber training businesses to prepare for the worst, reports TBS News (Oct. 20).
On Monday, major internet service provider Nifty revealed that approximately 540,000 pieces of personal information may have been leaked following a breach. On the same day, Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores announced their reservation sites were compromised, resulting in the theft of roughly 1.26 million personal records — exposing the data of nearly their entire membership base.
Meanwhile, Trustbank, the operator of the popular Furusato Choice tax-deduction portal, was forced to abruptly suspend its services after detecting suspected unauthorized system access.
To combat the escalating digital threat, corporate security staff are flocking to practical training dojos. At a “Cyber Gym” in capital’s Akasaka district, participants are subjected to simulated, high-pressure hacking attempts designed to push them to their limits.
“Terrifying”
During a recent drill, simulated hackers exploited system vulnerabilities to breach a fake corporate network. Within just ten minutes of the exercise starting, ominous skull icons flashed across the trainees’ monitors. Desperate IT workers scrambled across multiple screens in a frantic bid to halt the intrusion, but the relentless assault proved too much. Ultimately, almost every computer was hijacked, the screens plastered with the word “HACKED.”
“If this were real, it would be terrifying,” one corporate IT participant admitted after the system takeover. “With the recent rise of AI, the damage is spreading faster than ever. We urgently need to implement better countermeasures.”
Another participant echoed the fear of the invisible threat: “It was chilling how the infiltration happened completely out of sight, until suddenly the computers were completely useless.”
According to organizers, the number of companies enrolling in these intensive drills has doubled over the past year.
Yosuke Asaka, an executive trainer at VLC Security Arena, noted the palpable anxiety among participants. “Trainees are coming in with a very high sense of urgency,” Asaka said. “There is a severe shortage of security personnel right now. The more staff we can train to respond to these attacks, the stronger these organizations will ultimately be.”
