Defense & Security

JAXA’s Confidential Information on Mars Project May Have Been Stolen in Cyberattacks; Chinese Govt Suspected of Being Involved in Attack

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency logo

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:00 JST, January 10, 2025

Confidential information related to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Mars exploration project may have been stolen in cyberattacks in which the Chinese government is suspected of being involved, according to informed sources.

A Chinese hacker group known as MirrorFace is believed to have repeatedly accessed the central server by exploiting VPN vulnerabilities, stealing about 200 accounts of JAXA employees and others in Microsoft 365, a cloud service used by the organization, the sources said.

It is believed that more than 10,000 files were hacked and leaked in the attacks, which were carried out intermittently between 2023 and 2024.

The files include highly confidential information related to the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) project, to bring back rocks and other materials from Phobos, one of Mars’ moons, as well as files related to a manned lunar exploration project.

The leak has reportedly been confirmed.

Information provided to JAXA by Toyota Motor Corp., the Defense Ministry, NASA in the United States and other entities are also suspected to have been compromised.

In July last year, JAXA announced that personal information on its employees had been leaked as a result of a cyberattack, but other such sensitive information, including those on rockets and satellite operations, were not affected.

With project MMX, JAXA aims to launch an unmanned probe to Phobos in fiscal 2026 and be the first to bring back rocks, sand and other samples from Mars’ moon.

The main objectives of the mission are to better understand the formation of the solar system and to develop the technology that will form the foundation for manned exploration in the future.

China also plans to explore Mars and its moons, but Japan is said to be ahead in its efforts.

JAXA told The Yomiuri Shimbun on Wednesday that it would refrain from commenting on the issue since “mentioning specific details would benefit the attackers due to the nature of information security.”