Probably students from UCLA, Berkeley or Stanford having a lark ;-)
Am I joking? Probably ... First thing that popped into my head, though. The August time-frame points at bored students getting ready to get back to class ...
Software used to breach the security of a Japanese maker of sensitive weapons systems contained simplified Chinese characters, making it difficult for those who don't speak the language to carry out the hack, Japan's biggest daily newspaper reported. A computer screen used by attackers to remotely control infected computers …
"United States officials have issued a stern warning over the attacks over Japan's ability to handle delicate information"
Oh yeah the Amerikans are doing so much better themselves in this respect... their military industrial complex can't have much left to steal now.
I would suspect the disclosed hacks are just the tip of the iceberg.
Kanji uses traditional chinese characters as does Taiwan and other countries. Mainland China changed to using 'simplified' characters which although many of the characters are similar, some can be quite different to read and are really a different written language. A person used to Traditional characters would not necessarily be able to read the simplified ones.
Take a look at the wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanzi - there is an example on the right which will help you visualise the difference
cited in the English-language Yomiuri article (interestingly enough, I have been unable to find a Japanese-language version on the Yomiuri website) - suggests, the simplified graphs constitute a way to cover one's tracks and point the finger at those dastardly Chinese, everybody's, not least the Reg's favourite bête noire. Perhaps the butler didn't do it after all ?...
Henri
'According to The New York Times, United States officials have issued a stern warning over the attacks over Japan's ability to handle delicate information.'
When you consider that Sony are a Japanese company and recount what happened to PSN, then you could be forgiven for thinking the Americans have a valid point here.
Mind you, all this from a country that allows bottom level Private soldiers to copy confidential files onto CD-RWs and release them onto the net...