GMO Internet Group has asked the government to adopt "active cyber defense" — a policy that would let the state act against attacks before damage spreads — after unauthorized access to its services, the company said.
The request covers an investor-facing cloud service that was breached. GMO disclosed the request without giving further details of what it is asking the government to do.
The company has reported a series of intrusions. Unauthorized access to servers handling GMO's FX trading led to inquiries from account holders about unauthorized transactions on their accounts, NHK reported on October 23.
On October 6, NHK reported that unauthorized access to a GMO group company may have leaked as many as 940,000 pieces of personal information.
Powers and limits
Active cyber defense is a contested idea in Japan. It would allow government bodies to detect and neutralize threats on networks beyond their own, rather than only defending state systems. That raises questions about surveillance and the limits of state access to private networks and data.
Companies that have been attacked have become some of the policy's most vocal supporters, arguing that they cannot stop intrusions alone. Civil-liberties questions about who authorizes such action, and against whom, remain unresolved.