Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato declined to comment on the UK Foreign Office’s claims that Russian special services had allegedly tried to disrupt the Tokyo Olympics using cyber attacks before it was delayed until 2021 over the pandemic, TASS reported.
“We know about this report of the British side,” Kato said. “The Japanese government is collecting the respective information, however we would like to refrain from any comments on this issue.” Japan’s chief cabinet secretary stressed that Tokyo would take all measures to protect the Summer Olympics from cyber attacks.
“We don’t ignore the threat of malicious cyber attacks, which threaten the foundations of democracy,” he noted. “All concerned agencies of Japan plan to collectively and jointly fight against these threats. We plan to strengthen the center of cyber security, which will safely protect the upcoming Olympics from such threats.”
Accusations against Russia
The UK Foreign Office claimed on Monday that Russian intelligence services had tried to carry out cyber attacks in order to derail the Tokyo Olympics before it was postponed until 2021 due to the pandemic.
The Foreign Office and the National Cyber Security Center claimed that Russian hackers from the military intelligence service, the GRU, conducted “cyber reconnaissance” against officials and organizations at the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo. The targets included the Games’ organizers, logistics services and sponsors. Moscow has repeatedly denied Western accusations of Russian cyber attacks.
