Japan Led 2024 Cyberattack Targets as AI Accelerates the Threat

Japan absorbed 22% of all global cyberattacks in 2024, more than any other nation, according to S&P and IBM data cited in a Bloomberg Opinion piece published June 21. That figure arrived before AI tools meaningfully amplified attacker capability. The article's core argument is that the trajectory gets considerably worse from here.

SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son framed the risk in historical terms, warning business leaders in Tokyo that this is the "greatest crisis for Japan since the arrival of the Black Ships." The original Black Ships were the American warships that arrived in 1853, forcing Japan out of centuries of isolation and into painful modernization. Son's version of that shock: malicious organizations can now use AI like "machine guns," firing attacks at a speed and scale previously unfathomable. The Bloomberg piece notes the argument may be melodramatic, but it is not absurd.

The IBM 2026 X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, published in February, adds specific texture to the alarm: cybercriminals are exploiting basic security gaps at dramatically higher rates, with a 44% increase in attacks beginning with exploitation of public-facing applications, driven in part by AI-enabled vulnerability discovery and missing authentication controls. For a country whose corporate IT infrastructure has a reputation for legacy systems, those two factors combine badly.

SoftBank has already moved to position itself as part of the solution, having launched a service using OpenAI technology to protect against cyberattacks. The honest caveat is that the loudest voice warning about AI-powered Black Ships is also selling the defensive response, which is worth keeping in mind when weighing Son's characterization of the threat's severity. The reporting also does not resolve whether Japan's 22% attack share is concentrated in particular sectors or attack types, which would matter considerably for how defenses should be prioritized.

What the directional picture does give you is clear enough: Japan enters an AI-accelerated threat environment carrying more attack surface than any comparable economy, and the gap between exposure and defense posture is the thing worth watching as the country responds.