Cyberattack-Hit Tech Bureau Slapped with Improvement Order

Tokyo, Sept. 25 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Financial Services Agency issued a business improvement order to cryptocurrency exchange operator Tech Bureau Corp. on Tuesday over a cyberattack that stole some 7 billion yen worth of virtual currencies from the exchange earlier this month. The FSA demanded the Osaka-based company report by Thursday on the cause of its failure to prevent the cryptocurrency theft, as well as its response to affected customers. This was the third FSA improvement order for Tech Bureau, a registered exchange operator under the revised payment services law. The company was slapped with the first and second orders in March and June, respectively, in the aftermath of the theft of 58 billion yen in customer assets held in digital currency NEM from major Japanese exchange Coincheck in January. The latest hacking attack was committed via a personal computer of a Tech Bureau employee on Sept. 14. It confirmed damage from the attack by Sept. 18 and announced the incident early in the morning two days later. Within the day of the announcement, the FSA conducted an on-site inspection of Tech Bureau. As about 4.5 billion yen of the stolen assets belonged to its customers, Tech Bureau plans to compensate for the customer losses by receiving 5 billion yen in aid from financial information provider Fisco Ltd. <3807> by the end of this month. The FSA, however, ordered Tech Bureau to report on details of the bailout plan, which it claimed lacks specifics. The agency believes that customer assets at Tech Bureau, worth about 47 billion yen in total, have been poorly managed as a relatively large portion of them has been exposed to the Internet. END