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Kadokawa Posts Statement After Suspected Cyber Attack (Updated)

Kadokawa Corporation released a statement on its official X (formerly Twitter) account on Sunday after several of the group's websites have become unavailable, in response to what the company suspects is a cyber attack.

Kadokawa stated that in the early hours of Saturday (June 8), an issue occurred that prevented access to multiple servers in the company. To protect the data, Kadokawa immediately shut down the servers affected by the incident. Kadokawa conducted an internal analysis and investigation on the same day, and determined that there is a high possibility that the company has been a victim of a cyber attack.

Kadokawa is currently working to protect and restore its system, and is still investigating the issue and looking into if any information from the websites was leaked. Kadokawa also confirmed that the Niconico services and ebten, the online shopping site of KADOKAWA Game Linkage, have been affected by the suspected cyber attack.

In a separate statement by Niconico's management, the company confirmed that its Niconico Family services such as Niconico, Niconico Live streaming, Niconico Channel, among others, are suspended. Login access to Niconco accounts on external services is also suspended. Niconico is also investigating the incident and taking preventive measures, but the company stated it cannot begin to restore services until it is confident it has completely eliminated the effects of the suspected cyber attack, and its safety has been confirmed. Niconico does not expect for its services to be restored this weekend, and will provide another update regarding the situation on Monday. Niconico also assured that no credit card information has been leaked, as it does not store credit card information on its servers.

In a post on ebten's official X/Twitter account, the company also stated it does not store credit card information on its servers, and there are currently no confirmed cases of leaked credit card information.

Kadokawa meanwhile stated it will continue to investigate the incident with the cooperation of other experts and the police, and will take swift action accordingly. Kadokawa added it will also provide an update once it has identified an accurate scope of impact, and has gathered more information regarding the incident.

Update: Niconico announced on Monday that it is still conducting an investigation to get the full scope of damage from the suspected cyber attack, and moving forward, it is making preparations to rebuild Niconico's entire system to prevent it from cyber attacks. Within the week, Niconico's executive officer Shigetaka Kurita and chief technology officer Keiichi Suzuki will explain the expected time it will take for its system to be restored, and more information as the investigation progresses. Source: Niconico's X/Twitter account and information website

Sources: Kadokawa's X/Twitter account, PR Times, Oricon News, Niconico's information website