GMO cybersecurity team finds info critical to identifying hackers, CEO says

GMO Internet Group, which is facing an ongoing standoff with an alleged hacker group holding its clients’ personal data hostage, said Thursday that its cybersecurity team found critical information that could help identify the perpetrators.

The company also received 270 tips in the first day since issuing a $1 million bounty on information behind the unauthorized access. GMO said the bounty would remain active for a year, or until the perpetrator is arrested or placed under an international wanted list.

“In order to ensure a speedy arrest or the issuance of an international wanted notice, we have submitted the information to the police and other relevant parties,” GMO Internet Group CEO Masatoshi Kumagai said in a post on X.

The alleged hacker group has remained mum — at least publicly — since its website revealing the personal information was taken down early Wednesday.

As a show of government intervention, on Tuesday the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry reportedly requested telecommunications carriers, through industry organizations, to block any sites that posted the leaked personal information of customers.

The hacker group allegedly responsible for the attack said earlier this week that it would leak the information of compromised GMO account holders one by one every day if a $1 million ransom demand was not met by noon on Tuesday.

The personal information of what appeared to be one of the customers was posted on the website after GMO refused to comply. GMO instead set up a matching $1 million bounty for information behind the unauthorized access that could lead to an arrest or the issuance of an international wanted notice.

GMO also warned people against visiting or sharing any such websites, saying that it is an “act that assists terrorism.”

“We have confirmed that the perpetrator collects information about anyone who visits that site,” GMO wrote on its bounty page. “If you have already visited it, run a full scan with your antivirus software. We will take decisive legal action, including filing criminal complaints, against anyone who spreads them, sets up fake websites or impersonates us.”

Before the site was taken down, the hacker group has said that it received information on the security vulnerabilities of GMO from an outside source, who had warned the company about it for the past few months via its online contact form, but failed to get any response.