Initial Disclosure Date: Sep 4, 2012

On August 31, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Japanese House of Representatives adopted the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The recent submission of the censure motion against Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has stalled Diet sessions. Members from the opposition parties did not participate in the Committee on the 31st, and only the ruling parties voted. The House of Councilors unanimously passed the agreement on July 31. Thus, if the Houser of Representatives plenary session passes it, it means Japan’s ratification. Given how Anonymous has reacted to ACTA, the Japanese government and companies need to start preparing for potential cyber-attacks by the hacktivist group.

As of 11am on September 4, OpJapan and Anonymous ACTA Leaks, two major Anonymous Twitter accounts in Japan, remain silent. Yet, they were very active and named their targets after the House of Councilors passed ACTA in the end of July. Close attention should be paid to their postings.

On the other hand, Anonymous members overseas already started tweeting about the Japanese movement on August 31. AoS (@AnonOpsSweden) posted on the day, “ACTA was passed by force at committee on Foreign Affairs in Lower House!” Ten minutes later, Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) argued, “#Japan #ACTA was passed by force at committee on Foreign Affairs in Lower house! We have to stop it at this point or Game is over for us.”

Right after the House of Councilors passed ACTA on July 31, Anonymous tweeted more frequently. AnonymousIRC (AnonymousIRC) ordered, “Going back to Defcon2,” on August 1. DefCon stands for Defense Readiness Condition, which is an alert posture used by U.S. forces. It has five levels of readiness and the highest alert level has been DefCon2 so far. It was issued during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Anonymous targeted the Japanese government between the end of July and early August. Anonymous Operations (Anon_Central) posted the phone number and email address of Prime Minister Noda on his Twitter message on August 1. The disclosed phone number belongs to the Prime Minister’s Office and the email address is on his website: http://www.nodayoshi.gr.jp/link/link.html. Next day, AnonCorpWatch indicated that they are targeting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On the same day, the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tentatively became inaccessible. It is, however, unknown whether this is caused by the Ministry’s maintenance or Anonymous DDoS attacks. The website does not refer to maintenance.

On August 1, a Twitter account, Anonymous ACTA Leaks (@ActaLeaksJapan), was created, and the actor posted, “Calling all #OpJapan supporters to target all Japanese government, corporate and global franchise sites for leaks #NoACTA.” On the same day, the actor shared the AnonPaste URL for tool kits for SQL vulnerabilities and claimed, “All targets by any means necessary. Take off your white hat, we are way past nice.”

Sources:
Internet Watch, “Shugiin Gaimuiinkai ga ‘ACTA’ shonin, netto kiseikyoka ha ‘gokai’ [The Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representative adopted ACTA and repeatedly denied that people ‘misunderstand’ about tighter Internet regulation by the agreement],” August 31, 2012,
http://internet.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20120831_556512.html

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