South Korea and Japan hit by cyberattack wave as AI lowers bar for hackers

South Korean and Japanese companies are investigating a wave of cyberattacks: nine South Korean banks and two mega-churches, plus Daiwa Securities, SoftBank and Lawson in Japan. TrendAI logged more incidents in Japan in nine months than in all of last year, while South Korea reported 1,236 incidents in the first half, up 20%. Experts say AI is lowering the skill barrier for attackers.

• Japan recorded 86 incidents in September, up 18% from August and 37% from July
• South Korea reported 1,236 cyber incidents in H1, up 20% year on year
• DDoS attacks in Korea rose 56.7% and ransomware reports 76.8%
• CrowdStrike: suspect in Korean bank hacks used Claude Code