Computers in Japan’s Parliament were Hit by a Computer Virus

Security officials stated that recently Computers in Japan's Parliament have been infected with a computer virus. The latest was the series of cyber attacks that have questioned the security of private information, as per the reports nytimes.com on October 26, 2011.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura stated that personal systems which were used by three members of the lower house along with a computer system were infected by the virus, as per the news by nytimes.com on October 26, 2011.

He did not reveal details but local media reports stated that the computer virus apparently had been used to hack the computer systems nearly around past three months. The reports claimed that login details and emails may have been stolen.

The media reports also informed that one of the lawmakers opened an e-mail attachment that released the computer virus. The Trojan enabled the hijacked machines to communicate with a server located in China.

A meeting was held by a Lower House Committee on October 30, 2011 to look into the incident.

Fujimura said that the government would take all precautionary steps to improve security, as per the news by itnews.com.au on October 31, 2011.
The Parliament Members were advised to change their passwords because of the breach.

Lower House members use the computers to send mails to government agencies and other lawmakers. They also stored private information such as support groups, political accounting books and donations.

The reports of the above-mentioned attack came to fore only after the local media in Japan came out with an article, where they alleged that a past report on the network attack of a Japanese maker of susceptible weapons system provided clues for fighter jets and other defense equipments. It also enticed criminals to gather idea for heading out a plan along the same line as for nuclear power plant designs as exposed through the past report. The hackers, who have included simplified Chinese characters in their code, hit nearly 83 servers and computers at 11 locations.

Moreover, the Chinese hackers are being found behind these attacks, an accusation which China has repeatedly denied.

Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos stated that it is natural to be suspicious against China for these attacks as they were hosted by a server hosted in China. However, this fact is not assuring enough to blame China for the attack, as per the news by informationweek.com on October 25, 2011.

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