TOKYO (TR) – The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has ordered major telecommunications providers to block access to a website operated by hackers who breached the servers of tech conglomerate GMO Internet Group and attempted to extort the company.
The hackers gained unauthorized access to GMO’s servers and demanded money, publishing what appeared to be user data on a public website as leverage. The site went dark on Tuesday, but it has since emerged that the Ministry had already sent a written request to industry bodies including the Telecommunications Carriers Association, whose membership includes Japan’s major telecoms, demanding they implement blocking measures.
Blocking, as the practice is known, requires internet service providers to monitor users’ connection destinations and forcibly cut off access to specific sites. The technique is controversial precisely because of its surveillance implications, and a formal government request of this kind is considered highly unusual in Japan.
Meanwhile, GMO CEO Masatoshi Kumagai took to social media on Thursday morning to signal that investigators are closing in. Writing on his personal account, Kumagai said that tip-offs submitted through a dedicated reporting portal had yielded what he described as “significant information leading to the identification of the culprits.”
