Japanese Government Website Hacked... Suspected to Be the Work of Pro-Russian Hackers

Administrative Information Portal, Local Tax Portal, and Others Down

(Photo by Getty Images Bank)

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] The Japanese government's homepage has become inaccessible due to a cyberattack.

On the 6th, local media such as Japan's NHK and Kyodo News cited the Japan Cybersecurity Center (NISC), reporting that the Japanese government's administrative information portal homepage was attacked and became inaccessible on the same day.

According to reports, around 4:30 PM that day, the site was hit by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, rendering it inaccessible. The pro-Russian hacker group "Killnet" posted on their Telegram channel at the time the attack began, stating, "We attacked Japan's electronic government and tax authorities' systems."

Additionally, the local tax portal site (eLTAX), under the jurisdiction of Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, was also attacked and is currently inaccessible. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Killnet has been conducting cyberattacks on government sites of countries supporting Ukraine.