ISLAMABAD: A hacker group probably hailing from Pakistan has threatened Japan with cyberattacks for its support of Israel, it was learnt on Wednesday.
The alarming announcement surfaced on social media through an account named “Pakistani Leet Hacker” (@Team_insane_pk1), where the group claimed responsibility for targeting multiple Japanese websites.
According to this hacker group, 13 prominent Japanese sites, including the Economic Department, Embassy of Israel in Japan, news.yahoo.co.jp, Atomic Energy Society of Japan, J-Power, Tokyo Skytree, and several government-related platforms, Metro Tokyo official website, Konoike group Japan’s official website, Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s website, Toshimitsu Mogi’s official’s website, Yoshihide Suga official website, Japan Business Federation/Keidanren website, Japan official website of the Liberal Democratic Party, Japan NTTPC Communications official website etc were compromised.
Taking on twitter, this hacker group, identifying themselves as “Team Insane Pakistan,” asserted their actions were in response to Japan’s alleged support for Zionists. The group accused Japan of having a cybersecurity system established by the Israeli government, a claim that has sparked widespread concern among Japanese citizens.
It is also learnt from the social media that Japanese individuals and institutions while expressing their concerns have been reporting these threats to local law enforcement agencies while the increasing cyberattacks have raised fears not only about the immediate security of the targeted websites but also about the potential implications for Japan’s broader cybersecurity infrastructure.
Despite the gravity of the situation, repeated attempts to obtain an official response from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) regarding these threats to Japan by an online account claiming to be a Pakistani hacker group and its statement of responsibility on social media for hacking the websites of Japan for supporting Israel has so far remained in vain.
