Tech

Japanese Firms Offer Customers Compensation After Cyberattacks Disrupt Services

GMO Internet will pay all customers 5,000 yen after unauthorised access hit its foreign exchange trading service, while Park24 will pay 3,000 yen after a data breach, as Japan moves to test its systems against AI-driven attacks.

By Pawartaenggal Newsroom • Monday, 26 October 2026

Photo: David Kernan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

Japanese companies are moving to pay compensation to customers after waves of cyberattacks disrupted internet services and raised concerns about economic stability, Reuters reported on Monday, 26 October 2026.

GMO Internet said customers would be compensated for losses stemming from unauthorised access following a cyberattack on its foreign exchange trading service. All customers will receive 5,000 yen, about 32 dollars, as what chief executive Masatoshi Kumagai called in a blog post on Sunday an initial gesture of good faith.

The announcement came after Japan said on Friday it would set up a team to simulate cyberattacks using artificial intelligence, aiming to identify weaknesses in technology systems. Organisations have been scrambling to contain risks from flaws in the PHP programming language, which underpins much of the internet.

Shares of GMO, which had a market value of 2.6 billion dollars as of Friday's close, fell 11 percent in Tokyo in the morning, compared with flat trading in the benchmark index.

Experts say AI is helping attackers automate tasks from scanning for software vulnerabilities to crafting phishing campaigns, making cybercrime faster, cheaper and harder to detect. Government and company websites in Japan, Europe and elsewhere went offline last week after the disclosure of critical vulnerabilities in PHP prompted millions of hacking attempts.

GMO Internet has asked the Japanese government to apply cyber defence measures in response to the attack. The company said it had received a demand for money from a party believed to be behind the attack, along with a threat to disclose company and customer information if it did not comply. GMO said it would not comply and would respond in coordination with police and other authorities.

Separately, Park24, which operates the Times car-sharing service, said on Friday it would make 3,000 yen payments to customers following a personal data breach.

Source: Reuters

Japanese Firms Offer Customers Compensation After Cyberattacks Disrupt Services

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