Japan Fights Against Cybercrime And Crypto Theft

The new law enforcement unit from Tokyo is going to raise efforts to combat cybercrime. Over 500 analysts and investigators from different branches of Japanese police and other security services will work at the new agency, according to Kyodo report. Authorities hope to address the internet security issues in a more efficient way.

Only last year, hackers have stolen about $166 million from Japanese exchanges, which includes $6.3 worth of cryptocurrency. It doesn’t include the funds lost by Coincheck. In January hackers took $550 million worth of NEM coins from Japanese crypto exchange.  Police are still investigating the theft. The hack was probably carried out with a virus emailed to the Coincheck’s employees.

Cybersecurity experts have voiced concerns that half of the NEM coins, which disappeared in the heist, have been laundered already on the darknet. It’s believed that the attackers have converted them to other cryptocurrencies or even fiat money. A couple of weeks ago the NEM Foundation announced it would no longer track the stolen cryptos. The Singapore-based organization also said it had provided“actionable information” to law enforcement agencies investigating the hacker attack.

In Japan, cybercrimes have become a serious issue. More than 3 million attempts to steal computer stored data have been registered in 2017. These include cases of attacks on both credit cards and cryptocurrency wallets. In 2016 hackers have misappropriated twice a time.