Concerns have been raised when The Washington Post claimed that Chinese hackers may have hacked Japan’s defense networks.
Despite a news story claiming that Chinese military hackers broke into Japan’s most sensitive defense networks, the US Department of Defense has stated that it is confident in its ability to share intelligence with Japan.
The remarks on Tuesday come a day after a report in the Washington Post that said Chinese military hackers had access to Japan’s secure defense networks in 2020 citing anonymous present and previous US and Japanese officials.
The Post claims that the hackers were able to learn about Japan’s military capabilities, plans, and evaluations of its shortfalls. At a routine press conference on Tuesday, Japan’s Cabinet Secretary in Chief Hirokazu Matsuno stated that his country was unable to determine if security information had been divulged.
A veteran US military official was described by The Post as claiming that the breach was “bad – shockingly bad” so the head of the United States National Security Agency rushed to Tokyo to tell the Japanese defense minister, who requested the officials to also notify the prime minister.
The newspaper reported that Japan had strengthened its network infrastructure. However, it said that anonymous officials believed that these precautions were insufficient to fend off Chinese espionage.
Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon official, declined to respond to questions about the Post article, stating that Tokyo should be permitted to answer questions for its surveillance and cyber capabilities. She continued, though, saying that “we have faith in our connection and the level of intelligence exchange that we currently do with Japan and we’re certain that we will keep doing that.”
Requests for response on the Post report, the which comes before a trilateral conference between the US, Japan, & South Korea on August 18, were not immediately answered by the U.S. National Security Agency. In response to growing concerns about China, the three allies are anticipated to announce steps to increase security cooperation.
Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan Matsuno stated that tight communication between Japan and the US on various levels has always existed.
According to Matsuno, cybersecurity is the cornerstone of the Japan-US partnership, and Japan is going to keep to work to safeguard its network’s stability and security.
According to a Washington official last week, the US, Japan, & South Korea have been developing one statement for the summit in order to bind them more tightly together on security matters.
According to the official, the partners are anticipated to announce other measures, such as increasing trilateral exercises and stepping up cooperating on cybersecurity, missile defense, and economic security, in addition to considering setting up a trilateral leader-level hotline.