Japanese firms scrambling for help after hackers compromise over 1.8 million customer records

TOKYO (TR) – A relentless wave of cyberattacks has battered major Japanese corporations, compromising over 1.8 million personal records and sending terrified IT personnel scrambling to specialized cyber training businesses to prepare for the worst, reports TBS News (Oct. 20).

On Monday, major internet service provider Nifty revealed that approximately 540,000 pieces of personal information may have been leaked following a breach. On the same day, Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores announced their reservation sites were compromised, resulting in the theft of roughly 1.26 million personal records — exposing the data of nearly their entire membership base.

Meanwhile, Trustbank, the operator of the popular Furusato Choice tax-deduction portal, was forced to abruptly suspend its services after detecting suspected unauthorized system access.

To combat the escalating digital threat, corporate security staff are flocking to practical training dojos. At a “Cyber Gym” in capital’s Akasaka district, participants are subjected to simulated, high-pressure hacking attempts designed to push them to their limits.

During a recent drill, simulated hackers exploited system vulnerabilities to breach a fake corporate network. Within just ten minutes of the exercise starting, ominous skull icons flashed across the trainees’ monitors. Desperate IT workers scrambled across multiple screens in a frantic bid to halt the intrusion, but the relentless assault proved too much. Ultimately, almost every computer was hijacked, the screens plastered with the word “HACKED.”

“If this were real, it would be terrifying,” one corporate IT participant admitted after the system takeover. “With the recent rise of AI, the damage is spreading faster than ever. We urgently need to implement better countermeasures.”

Another participant echoed the fear of the invisible threat: “It was chilling how the infiltration happened completely out of sight, until suddenly the computers were completely useless.”

According to organizers, the number of companies enrolling in these intensive drills has doubled over the past year.

Yosuke Asaka, an executive trainer at VLC Security Arena, noted the palpable anxiety among participants. “Trainees are coming in with a very high sense of urgency,” Asaka said. “There is a severe shortage of security personnel right now. The more staff we can train to respond to these attacks, the stronger these organizations will ultimately be.”

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东京（TR）——据TBS新闻（10月20日）报道，一波又一波的网络攻击重创了日本各大公司，导致超过180万份个人记录泄露，惊恐万分的IT人员纷纷涌向专门的网络培训机构，为最坏的情况做好准备。

周一，大型互联网服务提供商Nifty披露，由于一次数据泄露事件，约有54万条个人信息可能已被泄露。同日，阪急阪神百货公司宣布其预约网站遭到入侵，导致约126万条个人记录被盗，几乎泄露了其所有会员的数据。

与此同时，运营热门退税门户网站“故乡之选”（Furusato Choice）的Trustbank在检测到疑似未经授权的系统访问后，被迫突然暂停服务。

为了应对日益严峻的网络威胁，企业安全人员纷纷涌向实战训练场。在东京赤坂区的一家“网络健身房”，学员们会接受模拟的、高压的黑客攻击，旨在挑战他们的极限。

在最近的一次演习中，模拟黑客利用系统漏洞入侵了一个假想的企业网络。演习开始仅十分钟，受训人员的屏幕上就闪现出不祥的骷髅头图标。焦急的IT人员在多个屏幕上争分夺秒地试图阻止入侵，但持续不断的攻击最终还是让他们束手无策。最终，几乎所有电脑都被劫持，屏幕上赫然显示着“已被入侵”的字样。

“如果这是真的，那就太可怕了，”一位企业IT人员在系统被接管后承认。“随着人工智能的兴起，损害蔓延的速度比以往任何时候都快。我们迫切需要采取更好的应对措施。”

另一位参与者也表达了对这种看不见的威胁的恐惧：“渗透完全在视线之外发生，直到电脑突然完全无法使用，这令人不寒而栗。”

据组织者称，过去一年来，参加这些强化演练的公司数量翻了一番。

VLC安保中心的高级培训师浅香洋介注意到学员们普遍感到焦虑。“学员们都带着高度紧迫感前来参加培训，”浅香说道，“目前安保人员严重短缺。我们培训的员工越多，能够应对这些袭击的人员就越多，这些机构最终就会越强大。”

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