Panasonic Confirms Data Breach After Hackers Access Internal Network

Japanese tech giant Panasonic has confirmed a data breach after hackers gained access to its internal network.

Panasonic said in a press release dated November 26 that its network was “illegally accessed by a third party” on November 11 and that “some data on a file server had been accessed during the intrusion.” However, when reached, Panasonic spokesperson Dannea DeLisser confirmed that the breach began on June 22 and ended on November 3 — and that the unauthorized access was first detected on November 11.

The Osaka, Japan-based company provided few other details of the breach. In its press release, the company said that in addition to conducting its own investigation, it’s “currently working with a specialist third-party organization to investigate the leak and determine if the breach involved customers’ personal information and/or sensitive information related to social infrastructure.”

“After detecting the unauthorized access, the company immediately reported the incident to the relevant authorities and implemented security countermeasures, including steps to prevent external access to the network,” it added. “Panasonic would like to express its sincerest apologies for any concern or inconvenience resulting from this incident.”

News of this data breach comes less than a year after Panasonic India was hit with a ransomware attack that saw hackers leak 4 gigabytes of data, including financial information and email addresses. It also comes amid a wave of cyberattacks targeting Japanese technology companies. NEC and Mitsubishi Electric both fell victim to hackers last year, and Olympus was recently forced to suspend its European, Middle East and Africa operations after being hit by BlackMatter ransomware.

Updated with comment from Panasonic.

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