Japan investigates potential hack of next-gen missile blueprint

The Japanese ministry of defence is reportedly investigating a possible leak of details of a new state-of-the-art missile in a large-scale cyber attack on Mitsubishi Electric Corp, local media Asahi Shimbun reported on Wednesday.

The next-gen missile is of a type in use by the United States, China and Russia, which is capable of flying at supersonic speeds over long distances and can pass through enemy missile defence networks to make precision strikes, the newspaper said. Japan has been researching such missiles since fiscal 2018, it said.

Among the leaked details may have been range, propulsion and heat resistance.

Officials suspects hackers stole data including performance requirements that were sent to several defence-industry companies as part of the bidding process for the project, the Asahi reported, citing government sources.

Mitsubishi Electric did was not awarded the contract for the prototype, the newspaper said.

The company said it was investigating the report but had no other immediate comment.