Japan holds emergency cybersecurity meeting as data breaches start causing losses

Japan's government held a ministerial meeting on cybersecurity on Monday evening, attended by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and several cabinet ministers, after data breaches affecting the personal information of millions of people began causing financial losses, The Japan Times reported. Takaichi said the government plans to compile an emergency package of cybersecurity measures by sometime next week, Reuters reported.

GMO Internet Group, whose foreign exchange trading service was hit by unauthorized access, said customers would be compensated for losses and each would receive 5,000 yen (about $32) as an initial goodwill payment, CEO Masatoshi Kumagai wrote on Sunday. Kumagai had urged the government to take active cyberdefense measures. GMO shares fell almost 16% on Monday, according to Reuters.

Why it matters: The attacks follow last week's disclosure of critical flaws in the PHP programming language, which set off millions of hacking attempts against websites in Japan, Europe and elsewhere.