Blackgear, a cyber-espionage campaign that has historically gone after Taiwanese targets, has now shifted its gaze to its neighboring country, Japan. According to security firm Trend Micro, the group behind the campaign is still using its old mode of operation, and even deploying new variants of an older malware, a backdoor trojan named Elirks.

The Blackgear group, who's been around since 2010, is known in infosec circles as the APT that uses blogs and micro-blogging services in its attacks, a tactic which it still incorporates even today. In its recent attacks that targeted Japan, Trend Micro says the group relied on three stages of infection.

Japanese newspapers reported that an ATM heist involving around 1,400 machines in convenience stores resulted in the loss of $12.7 million. ATMs were targeted across Tokyo and 16 other prefectures in the country.

Police said they believe up to 100 people were involved in the heist. The thieves apparently went to ATMs like those found in 7-11s across Japan and swiped counterfeit South African credit cards, created using information from cards issued by South Africa's Standard Bank. At each of the approximately 1,400 ATMs that were struck, the culprit withdrew about $900, which is the maximum withdrawal permitted on the machines.

The US National Security Agency undertook systematic mass surveillance of Japanese politicians, ministries and corporations over a number of years, according to recently published documents. The revelations come from whistleblowing organisation WikiLeaks, which released a list of top secret targets in Japan.

The most high-profile target listed in the "Target Tokyo" documents is the current Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzō Abe, while corporations named include car-manufacturing giant Mitsubishi. The documents also reveal that the US bugged Japan's confidential G8 proposals on climate change, as well as spying on Japan's secret World Trade Organisation plan.

Personal computers in Japan and abroad have been infected with an aggressive online banking Trojan virus called ‘Vawtrak’ responsible for stealing millions of dollars, according to Tokyo police. 

The virus steals private information such as passwords while conducting online banking transactions. The money is then remitted to third-party accounts. Vawtrak was originally spotted in August 2013, that version stole details from several Windows email clients, the more recent have expanded their capabilities to include a wider range of theft. Among these capabilities are stealing banking credentials and credit card information.