The company promises to cover losses from unauthorised access and give every customer 5,000 yen, while refusing a demand for money linked to threatened information disclosure.
GMO Internet pledged on 25 October to cover customers’ trading losses caused by unauthorised access and pay every customer a separate 5,000 yen (about $32), which chief executive Masatoshi Kumagai called “an initial gesture of good faith,” Reuters said in a 26 October report carried by CNA. The company also offered equivalent replacement PCs for customers whose computers suffer ransomware damage, BleepingComputer said in its 27 October report.
The affected service, Onamae.com Desktop Cloud, hosts Windows desktops on remote servers. GMO recommends it for foreign-exchange applications, which customers use to trade currencies. GMO shut the service on 21 October after discovering unauthorised access.
On 26 October, GMO warned that attackers planned to activate ransomware planted on customers’ servers. Ransomware is malicious software that can lock files or systems to demand payment. On 27 October, GMO asked customers to back up their data, disconnect their PCs from the internet, shut them down and unplug all cables before noon.
The replacement-PC offer applies to customers suffering damage from a ransomware attack; it is not confirmation that such damage occurred. In its 27 October report, BleepingComputer said no ransomware had activated on customer machines and the attacker appeared not to have carried out the threat. GMO said it was scanning customers’ systems to determine whether malicious software remained.
TechCrunch said on 27 October that GMO was checking material a suspected attacker had posted.
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GMO had acknowledged security vulnerabilities, unauthorised access and the removal of customer information. It also said malicious programs had been installed in some customers’ server environments and that some customers had reported trades they did not recognise. The company began collecting customers’ devices on 25–26 October to check for malicious software and assess the damage.
In a blog post quoted by The Register, Kumagai said internal security testers had previously identified areas for improvement. Staff were working on countermeasures, but concerns about keeping the service available and other priorities slowed the response. He said the work lacked sufficient depth and speed, allowing attackers to exploit a vulnerability.
GMO said the attacker demanded ¥8 billion ($50 million), which it would not pay. The demand came with a threat to publish company and customer information. GMO said payment would not guarantee that the information would be deleted or its misuse prevented.
GMO said it would coordinate its response with police and other authorities. It reported the incident to Japanese police on 22 October. Kumagai also said GMO had submitted a proposal to Japan’s government for proactive cyber defence.
GMO said it had asked major trading providers to end all active sessions, monitor for unauthorised transactions and block trade requests from Onamae.com Desktop Cloud. These were requests, not confirmation that the blocks were in place.
Some trading applications may keep sessions—connections that remain logged in—active even after a password change, GMO warned. It advised customers to change trading passwords immediately using a device they do not use for trading, and to disconnect all active sessions through their account page or ask their trading provider’s support desk to do so.
GMO said the intrusion could have installed malicious software on up to 26,739 customers’ servers. It also warned that customers’ personal devices may be at risk. Kumagai pledged a free alternative environment for six months, an overhaul of the system infrastructure and an investigation with external experts to identify the cause and prevent another attack.
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