TOKYO, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Japanese police detected a record number of suspected daily cyberattacks in 2019, National Police Agency (NPA) officials said Thursday.
According to the NPA, its Cyber Force Center detected a record average of 4,192 suspected cyberattacks daily, marking an increase of around 50 percent from the previous year.
The NPA said the surge in the number of suspected cyberattacks may be due to a larger number of possible targets, such as internet-connected home appliances, and also noted that many cases of attacks targeted services related to telecommuting, which more Japanese firms have been adopting of late.
Cybercrimes confirmed by police increased by 479 across Japan from a year earlier to 9,519 cases in 2019, marking a record high for the fourth successive year, the NPA said.
The agency said that cases of child prostitution and pornography comprised the most common instances of cybercrimes totaling 2,281 cases.
Crimes involving the stealing of IDs or passwords comprised 785 cases, the NPA also said.
Money obtained in illegal transactions via internet banks totaled 2.52 billion yen (23.5 million U.S. dollars), the NPA said, with the amount rising by five times compared to a year earlier.
Earlier this year, Mitsubishi Electric and NEC Corp., companies that both have contracts with Japan's defense ministry, were targeted with major cyberattacks.
The NPA is bolstering measures against such attacks ahead of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics scheduled to take place this summer.
"The threat in cyberspace remains serious. We'll pursue countermeasures by working with relevant institutions and take all possible steps to ensure a safe and smooth hosting of the games," Ryota Takeda, head of the National Public Safety Commission, told a press conference on the matter.
