Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama stated that Japan will respond with a sense of urgency to the damage caused by cyberattacks on foreign exchange trading platforms, noting that no new attacks have been detected so far.
"Given that these incidents and related circumstances are evolving rapidly, we will continue to require financial regulators to take appropriate and swift measures in line with developments," Katayama told reporters on Tuesday.
She also said there is a "shared sense of crisis globally" regarding cybersecurity issues, and referenced discussions held with G7 counterparts in Bangkok last week.
Katayama's remarks came as dozens of Japanese companies have reported system intrusions in recent weeks, with customer data potentially compromised.
Meanwhile, concerns are mounting globally that attackers are using artificial intelligence to discover and exploit cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
In one recent incident, IT services provider GMO Internet Group reported unauthorized access to its foreign exchange trading platform, with some customers stating that trades not initiated by them appeared in their accounts.
Katayama said five foreign exchange trading companies have reported customers affected by the GMO incident. However, she noted that no new reports of unauthorized transactions have been received so far.
GMO requested government assistance on Saturday to cut off the source of the attack. The company's CEO, Masatoshi Kumagai, said in a blog post that the company received a ransom demand for $50 million in cryptocurrency but refused to pay.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi instructed the cabinet on Monday to formulate emergency measures by the end of next week to address the recent string of cyberattacks targeting Japanese companies. Katayama said Japan's Financial Services Agency will study relevant measures as soon as possible.
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