Japan

Japan's largest defense contractor backpedaled yesterday, saying it's possible some secrets had been stolen by hackers who broke into the company's network and planted malware in August.

The acknowledgement came several weeks after Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, confirming that scores of its servers and PCs had been infected, denied any information had been pilfered. Previously, a U.S.-based Mitsubishi Heavy spokesman had said that although attackers had uncovered company IP (Internet Protocol) addresses, the attack "was caught at an early stage."

The worrying cyberattack on Japanese defence contractors in August was probably the work of a single attacker looking to steal industrial secrets, local newspapers are reporting.

Japanese police have now traced the point of attack to a PC based in the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies (SJAC), from which an email containing malware was sent on 26 August to the target companies, Mitsubishi Heavy, Kawasaki Heavy, claiming to be a legitimate communication from one of its employees.

Japan plans to work more closely with private companies by sharing information on cyber attacks after defense contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was hacked, the Nikkei business daily reported Sunday.

The government also aims to ratify an international treaty on online crimes, Nikkei said without citing a source.

A Chinese government official today denied any involvement in the attack that compromised scores of servers belonging to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan's largest defense contractor.

According to press reports, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei dismissed suggestions that the attacks against Mitsubishi originated in China.