GMO Internet Group said on October 27 that it will pay up to $1 million, roughly ¥150 million, for information that helps explain the unauthorized access to a cloud desktop service run by its GMO Internet subsidiary. The company will start taking tips at a dedicated desk at noon on October 28.
The service, "Onamae.com Desktop Cloud," is a virtual private server product used for automated foreign-exchange trading. GMO is seeking information from companies and individuals in Japan and abroad that helps identify or locate those involved in the breach, or leads to their arrest.
The company said it will not accept guesswork or reposted public information. It listed the kinds of tips it wants:
- Information that could identify or locate the perpetrators, accomplices or those giving orders
- Information on the infrastructure used in the attack or threats
- Information linking servers, domains, IP addresses or accounts to those involved
- Information on the flow of funds and who benefited
- Information linking crypto asset addresses, transfer records or fraudulent transactions to those involved
- Information on how the attack was carried out and the chain of command
- Evidence such as instructions for attacks or threats, division of roles and communications records
The $1 million is the maximum the program will pay in total, not the amount for a single person, the company said. It will announce later how the money would be split if several people provide information.
Tips will not be paid for if they come from the perpetrators themselves, from people connected to them, or if they were obtained through illegal means such as threats. GMO urged applicants not to carry out risky investigations of their own or to contact the perpetrators.
The program is due to run until an arrest is made. "Through this program we will gather concrete, verifiable information from Japan and abroad, and use it to clarify the case and prevent further damage," the company said.
The offer comes alongside warnings to users of the service. GMO has urged them to back up their PCs and switch them off after a threat of an attack at noon. It has also told people not to access information published about the attackers and said it is preparing legal action against those who spread it maliciously.