Japan declares cybersecurity emergency after attacks on more than 20 major firms, as officials and experts warn that artificial intelligence may make smaller services viable targets. The incidents in recent weeks exposed tens of millions of pieces of customer data, according to a report by PCMag.
The affected companies include convenience store chain Lawson and car rental operator Times Car. The booking system of JR East, Japan’s largest rail operator, lost 1.67 million customer email addresses. Japanese cybersecurity minister Toshiharu Furukawa described the situation as “extremely critical” at a meeting of the National Cybersecurity Strategy Headquarters. Masaaki Taira, who heads that body, called it an “emergency in cyberspace.”
Japan Declares Cybersecurity Emergency as Attacks Spread
Masaki Hiraoka, managing director for north-east Asia at cybersecurity group Blackpanda, told The Financial Times that the recent attacks have not been explicitly linked to AI. He said the technology can enable hackers to carry out attacks that previously required time-consuming investigation.
That change could widen the range of potential targets. Hiraoka said, “Smaller services that previously weren’t worth the effort could become viable targets.” His assessment describes a possibility, not proof that AI was used in the reported incidents.
Nobuo Miwa, president of Tokyo-based cybersecurity firm S&J Corp, compared the recent attacks to “carpet bombing” in a statement to Reuters. Miwa also said AI tools may help foreign hackers overcome language barriers that could previously have made attacks on Japanese firms harder. The source does not identify the attackers or establish AI as the method behind the incidents.
TrendAI data shared with Reuters showed Japan recorded more cybersecurity incidents in the first nine months of 2026 than in all of last year. The source gives no incident totals, so the comparison establishes the reported direction without specifying the size of the increase.
Regulators Call for Stronger Identity Checks
Regulators are urging companies to tighten onboarding after the data thefts. The Financial Services Agency has reportedly called on lenders to accept only identification containing ID chips, including passports or Japan’s MyNumber national identity cards. The request followed leaked driver’s-license images after an attack on Times Car, described in the source as the country’s biggest car rental agency.
Japan’s emergency also comes amid attacks that disrupted physical business operations. An October 2025 attack on Asahi Group Holdings shut down most of the company’s 30 domestic factories and led to shortages of Asahi Super Dry beer. The account illustrates a stated consequence of an earlier incident; it does not establish a connection between that attack and the current cases.
For organizations in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East, the source frames the warning around smaller services that may become worthwhile targets as AI lowers the effort required to attack them. It does not provide regional pricing or availability figures. Japan’s current incident reports, expert assessments and regulator response give businesses a concrete reason to review whether onboarding and security reviews account for scalable attacks, while keeping unconfirmed AI involvement separate from established incidents.
Block Editorial has also covered cybersecurity challenges at water plants and reported on a separate FBI data breach. Its Cybersecurity Awareness Month coverage offers another related read on evolving digital threats. These are separate stories, not additional evidence about Japan’s current attacks.
