Japan’s military has used Chinese counterfeit USB sticks infected with malware linked to Chinese hacker groups for almost a year without it being detected by security scanning systems, according to a report by Nikkei Asia.
The Japanese media outlet reported on June 25 that Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) had been using the Chinese USB flash drives since March 2024 and did not discover the infected devices until February 2025, according to internal documents obtained by the outlet. Multiple security measures implemented by the Japanese military to prevent such cybersecurity vulnerabilities had failed to detect the virus.
“In February 2025, a USB drive acquired by the JGSDF Middle Army headquarters was found to contain malware,” the GSDF public relations office said in a statement when the security loophole was revealed by Nikkei Asia….
Japanese Military Used USB Drives With China-Linked Virus: Report
