Bakhtawar04
FULL MEMBER
New Recruit
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2025
- Messages
- 22
- Reaction score
- 0
- Country
- Location
Since February 2025, Japan has been dealing with a huge wave of cyberattacks that have targeted its online brokerage accounts and resulted in illicit trades totaling around ÂĄ100 billion, or roughly $700 million, at least 1,454 instances of hacked trading were reported by the Financial Services Agency (FSA), with the number of events rising quickly from just 33 in February to over 700 in the first half of April alone, Rakuten Securities, Nomura Holdings, SBI Holdings, SMBC Nikko Securities, Monex and Matsui Securities are among the major brokerages impacted.
The initial focus on Chinese equities has now expanded to domestic Japanese stocks, leading to trading halts on some affected shares, the attacks started primarily with hackers breaking into accounts to sell Japanese stocks and then using the proceeds to buy shares of Chinese companies many of which are cheap and thinly traded, this pattern suggests the criminals are manipulating stock prices by inflating certain shares through large scale purchases, likely aiming to profit by selling pre owned stocks at artificially elevated prices.
One victim, a 36-year-old office worker from Saitama Prefecture, recounted how his Rakuten Securities account was hacked, resulting in the unauthorized sale of Japanese stocks worth about ÂĄ12 million and the purchase of 200,000 shares in a Chinese company, while never clicking suspicious emails or visiting dubious websites, his login credentials were compromised, leading to significant losses, when he contacted Rakuten, he was told the brokerage would not compensate for trades made with valid IDs and passwords, even if unauthorized, leaving him considering legal action.
The hackers appear to have stolen client authentication details through phishing scams that direct investors to counterfeit brokerage websites, the Council of Anti-Phishing Japan reported a surge in phishing emails since January 2025, with over 17,600 reports between March and early April alone, these emails often use urgent language to trick recipients into clicking malicious links, which lead to fake sites mimicking legitimate brokerages making it extremely difficult for users to detect the fraud.
Brokerages have started to enhance security procedures in response, risk based authentication was used by Rakuten Securities, necessitating extra verification when accounts are accessed from devices that are unfamiliar to the user, numerous businesses have put multi factor authentication into place, including one-time passwords and advise customers to activate these safeguards, some investors, but oppose further security measures because they worry that trade execution delays may have an impact on results.
Guidelines to improve customer account security are being reviewed by the Japan Securities Dealers Association, with an emphasis on fortifying authentication procedures, officials stress the need to rebuild investor confidence while acknowledging that the scope and severity of these hacking events are unprecedented.
Regulators have promised to look at the breaches in great detail, in an effort to lessen the financial burden on individual investors, the FSA has permitted brokerages to reimburse clients for losses brought on by illegal trading, in order to stop additional illegal conduct, impacted brokerages such as Rakuten have halted buy orders for more than 1,000 Chinese businesses and 20 American corporations.
Japanese financial markets have been rocked by the continuous hacking spree, which has also revealed weaknesses in online securities trading platforms, investors are advised to exercise caution, stay away from dubious connections and only use the official brokerage's websites or applications to complete transactions, the event emphasizes how serious cybercrime is becoming in the financial services industry and how urgently strong cybersecurity measures are needed to safeguard investors and market integrity.
The initial focus on Chinese equities has now expanded to domestic Japanese stocks, leading to trading halts on some affected shares, the attacks started primarily with hackers breaking into accounts to sell Japanese stocks and then using the proceeds to buy shares of Chinese companies many of which are cheap and thinly traded, this pattern suggests the criminals are manipulating stock prices by inflating certain shares through large scale purchases, likely aiming to profit by selling pre owned stocks at artificially elevated prices.
One victim, a 36-year-old office worker from Saitama Prefecture, recounted how his Rakuten Securities account was hacked, resulting in the unauthorized sale of Japanese stocks worth about ÂĄ12 million and the purchase of 200,000 shares in a Chinese company, while never clicking suspicious emails or visiting dubious websites, his login credentials were compromised, leading to significant losses, when he contacted Rakuten, he was told the brokerage would not compensate for trades made with valid IDs and passwords, even if unauthorized, leaving him considering legal action.
The hackers appear to have stolen client authentication details through phishing scams that direct investors to counterfeit brokerage websites, the Council of Anti-Phishing Japan reported a surge in phishing emails since January 2025, with over 17,600 reports between March and early April alone, these emails often use urgent language to trick recipients into clicking malicious links, which lead to fake sites mimicking legitimate brokerages making it extremely difficult for users to detect the fraud.
Brokerages have started to enhance security procedures in response, risk based authentication was used by Rakuten Securities, necessitating extra verification when accounts are accessed from devices that are unfamiliar to the user, numerous businesses have put multi factor authentication into place, including one-time passwords and advise customers to activate these safeguards, some investors, but oppose further security measures because they worry that trade execution delays may have an impact on results.
Guidelines to improve customer account security are being reviewed by the Japan Securities Dealers Association, with an emphasis on fortifying authentication procedures, officials stress the need to rebuild investor confidence while acknowledging that the scope and severity of these hacking events are unprecedented.
Regulators have promised to look at the breaches in great detail, in an effort to lessen the financial burden on individual investors, the FSA has permitted brokerages to reimburse clients for losses brought on by illegal trading, in order to stop additional illegal conduct, impacted brokerages such as Rakuten have halted buy orders for more than 1,000 Chinese businesses and 20 American corporations.
Japanese financial markets have been rocked by the continuous hacking spree, which has also revealed weaknesses in online securities trading platforms, investors are advised to exercise caution, stay away from dubious connections and only use the official brokerage's websites or applications to complete transactions, the event emphasizes how serious cybercrime is becoming in the financial services industry and how urgently strong cybersecurity measures are needed to safeguard investors and market integrity.
