NPA succeeds in recovery of encrypted data

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:10 JST, December 30, 2022

The National Police Agency has succeeded in restoring encrypted data of companies attacked by ransomware this year, keeping them from paying any money, it has been learned.

According to sources close to the matter, the NPA’s newly established Cyber Affairs Bureau and the special cybercrime investigation squad decrypted the data of several Japanese companies that had been frozen by ransomware called LockBit, and restored it to its original state in the course of their investigation.

The bureau and the unit were created in April of 2022 with a view to participating in joint investigations with authorities overseas and are believed to have shared information with them. The NPA spokesperson said, “We did fix damage in several cases, but we’ll refrain from giving specific details.”