Preventing Unauthorized Access and Data Breaches
Overview
Multiple data breach cases involving unauthorized access appear to stem from inadequate basic safeguards, including insufficient protections during app development, misconfigured websites and other systems, and failure to address known vulnerabilities. As concerns grow that attackers may use AI and combine vulnerabilities to gain entry, the National Cybersecurity Office of the Cabinet Secretariat and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications are urging businesses and others to strengthen their safeguards.
Key points
- Multiple data breach cases appear to have been caused by inadequate basic security measures.
- Concerns have been raised that attackers may use AI or combine multiple vulnerabilities to gain entry.
- The National Cybersecurity Office of the Cabinet Secretariat and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications urged businesses and others to strengthen basic safeguards.
Overview
Multiple data breach cases appear to involve inadequate basic safeguards, such as insufficient measures during mobile app development, misconfigured websites and other systems, and failure to address known vulnerabilities.
Attackers are likely to use AI to investigate targets and compromise them, and there are concerns about intrusions that combine vulnerabilities previously considered relatively low risk. This is making it easier to scale attacks, and a broad range of businesses are thought to be targets.
Impact
As attacks become easier to scale, businesses of all sizes are thought to be targets.
Details
The National Cybersecurity Office of the Cabinet Secretariat urged businesses and others to address vulnerabilities and configuration flaws in websites and mobile apps, conduct ongoing security assessments and monitoring, strengthen safeguards from the design and development stages, and improve security across the entire supply chain, including contractors. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications conveyed the same guidance to businesses under its jurisdiction and relevant industry groups.
Businesses and others are being asked to further strengthen safeguards under the leadership of their management. Particular attention is directed to businesses that operate services using websites or mobile apps and handle personal information.