crime

Japan its own enemy in push to improve cybersecurity

19 Comments
By GERRY SHIH

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19 Comments
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"...extending government-run cybersecurity classes to companies..."

Ah yes, the "blind leading the blind" approach.

8 ( +8 / -1 )

After reading this, I kept saying to myself over and over again..."My Number"

8 ( +10 / -2 )

I'm a public school's employee and at my work places we still use Internet Explorer 9, I believe. I suggested updating their software and they looked at me with this face of "what? Why? No." And a few months ago I found a box of Norton Antivirus 2005 and was going to throw it away but again I was greeted with resistance because you know. What better than a 2005 version of Norton Antivirus in the year 2015?

And that's at public schools, where they have all the students' information.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

“In the U.S., if they find a problem, they have to report,” he said. “The Japanese engineer feels he fails his duty if he escalates a report. They feel ashamed.”

I think this is the biggest problem facing Japan not only in the IT field but you name any organization, and it is there. One would think that even with the slow rotation of personnel moving up in the corporate hierarchy that one who would have seen this problem when they were levels below didn't try to change this when they got into a position to do so, but I guess that spark of ingenuity is probably stamped down by the time one reaches a position to do something about this attitude.

6 ( +6 / -1 )

As someone who works in IT, many breaches are not reported in the US either until months after the fact or are ignored by those farther up the ladder who then blame those below.

Government is especially bad at this. Government cyber security is a joke compared to corporate. This seems to be almost universal.

And it's not just the IT department or their bosses or accounting not giving them enough money, but just as often, the regular employees who are constantly and deliberately try to defeat security measures just so they can download music, movies and use Facebook.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

70% of US companies operating in China admitted to being hacked last year. How many Japanese companies were hacked in China or even in their homeland? We'll never know.

Just go to any municipal office and it's clear that they aren't exactly on the bleeding edge of technological advancement, to put it very lightly. In fact, most system engineers I've met here absolutely hate their jobs & IT in general, for that matter. No passion whatsoever for IT outside of their specific roles at work.

What hope does the future bring?!

6 ( +7 / -2 )

If it works, don't fix it... But this isn't working.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

‘Please remove your pride.’”

Yeaaahhh......good luck with that one. It's like the very definition of being a corporate male here.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

The reality is companies either have been hacked or will be hacked. My message is, ‘It’s not your fault.’”

You literally can not expect a Japanese executive to believe this, they will hear you talking but they wont be listening.

Their counter-argument, "then it's better to not use any network at all".

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Darega sekinin toruka??? Who's responsible??? The Fall Guy syndrome . Choking nearly all aspects of Japanese working life. Repeat after me, " It's not you fault."

4 ( +5 / -1 )

The reality is companies either have been hacked or will be hacked. My message is, ‘It’s not your fault.’

I think this is the problem. Unfortunately there are so many bozo companies selling "security" that you can't tell the real guys from the idiots. When Japan thinks updating antivirus solves hackers you have a major issue.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Most useful JT slot-and-fill title ever. Can be used in almost any article about Japan.

Japan its own enemy in push to improve + (insert name of any social, political, educational, or industrial institution here)

4 ( +4 / -0 )

"“The Japanese engineer feels he fails his duty if he escalates a report. They feel ashamed.”

Not just the engineers; every facet of society. They've already failed, but somehow hiding it and hoping it goes away and not admitting it somehow makes the failure disappear -- until it is found out and has been compounded (then they get defensive).

In fact, we're seeing this as we speak with companies like Takada, Toshiba, Touden, Sony, Mitsubishi, the government, and these are only the ones who have had to eventually come forward.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Toshio Nawa, a top Japanese security consultant who is advising the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizers

The same 2020 Olympics that just had their site shut down with a DDoS attack a few days ago? Either they aren't listening to this guy, or he isn't advising them very well.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

While it may be nice to place blame on government and corporate cultures, I find the entire problem is with the Japanese society as a whole starting from the educational system to the individual families that places value on educational levels, social status, social hierarchy, etc. and not only expect but rely on those that they think or believe should, would and could protect them are actually inclined and are actually doing their jobs. To make matters worse, too many are trying to live in an idealized dream world and forget that their own security is their personal responsibility and not rely on others and place blame on others when things go wrong.

In that environment, the corporations are not structured to protect the company themselves as they are to protect the hierarchy of personnel for their own personal gains. Probably the same can be said of the government.

Unlike a country under attack, where people unite, too many are just busy trying to live their own lives believing that all will be well because so far the only disasters they had to face were tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes. To those most have become accustomed to and have learned to cope with. They do not fully understand the external "people" threat which comes in many forms, much of which are not physical violence.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

efforts by the world’s No. 3 economic power to improve its data security are being hobbled by a widespread corporate culture that views security breaches as a loss of face, leading to poor disclosure of incidents or information sharing at critical moments, Japanese experts and government officials say.

When generalist cadres are promoted purely for an ability to navigate the cloying political goo of closed, generalist gene pools, this metaphor applies to almost all areas of operation.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I read that they shut the site down themselves in response to the attack.

Well, the hosting company shut them down, they didn't do it themselves.

But either way, the point is that they didn't have any kind of DDoS protection in place, which means that either they aren't listening to their adviser, or he isn't advising them very well.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The same 2020 Olympics that just had their site shut down with a DDoS attack a few days ago?

I read that they shut the site down themselves in response to the attack. Not the worst approach to that kind of thing. (Although they perhaps took too long to bring it back on line again.)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Well, this is hardly unique to Japanese customers. All hacked companies have an incentive not to report even if they are required to be law. Furthermore, the damages from hacks are intangible and often don't manifest at all or not for years so again companies aren't exactly motivated to spending huge amounts of money in integrating legacy systems and protecting them

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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