The cybersecurity leader headquartered in Japan, TrendAI, stated that as artificial intelligence accelerates the global threat landscape, the company is sharing threat intelligence and practical protection recommendations.

Dallas, October 12th / PRNewswire / -- TrendAI ™ is a global leader in AI security and also a business unit of Trend Micro Incorporated ( TYO : 4704; TSE : 4704). The company issued a threat notification today in Japan, following a statement by the head of the Liberal Democratic Party's National Cybersecurity Strategy Headquarters in Japan, Masaaki Taira, who said, "Cyberspace is in a state of emergency." TrendAI ™'s forward-looking threat research data shows that the number of cybersecurity incidents publicly disclosed in Japan in the first nine months of 2026 has already exceeded that of the entire year of 2025. In September alone, there were 86 incidents, an increase of about 18% from August and 37% from July.

The party's headquarters held a meeting on October 9th to respond to a series of cyberattacks targeting Japanese companies and called on the government to strengthen public-private cooperation. Invasions targeting retailers, financial service companies, car-sharing services, and railway operators have exposed the data of millions of customers. Japan's National Cybersecurity Agency has issued guidelines to various ministries and departments, local governments, and private companies, urging them to maintain up-to-date security measures, use strong passwords, and enhance supply chain security.

The TrendAI ™ incident response team has also observed an increase in the number of incidents in Japan. In recent responses, attackers have exploited known vulnerabilities in internet applications to implant Web on Web servers, thereby gaining a foothold and potentially attempting to escalate privileges, move laterally, or access connected databases. TrendAI ™ Japanese-language analyses and reinforcement recommendations for these cases can be found here.

TrendAI ™ Co-leader of Proactive Threat Research, Ryan Flores, stated: "Cyberattacks are on the rise globally, and so are data breaches and data leaks as a result. Although AI itself may not be directly involved, its ability to help attackers identify targets and automate operations makes cyberattacks more scalable. Organizations need to reduce their online exposure and fix vulnerabilities to lower the likelihood of becoming victims."

AI is reducing the cost of attacks. TrendAI ™ has not yet confirmed a link between recent events in Japan and the use of AI by attackers. However, AI indeed allows attackers to accelerate reconnaissance and analysis of vulnerabilities, and to generate more deceptive phishing content in languages they do not understand. This weakens the protective effect that language barriers (such as Japanese) once had against foreign attackers. Automation also makes smaller organizations, including suppliers, more attractive to cyber criminals due to the higher return on investment.

TrendAI ™ Director of Proactive Threat Research Robert McArdle stated: "As organizations around the world are learning how to use AI budgets, it is important to remember that for cybercriminals, the cost of AI is zero. There already exists a mature economic system surrounding stolen accounts, API, and tokens, which drives the increasingly automated and proxy-based cybercrime activities we see today. The current surge in Japan should not be interpreted as a peak in criminal activity, but rather as a new baseline for attacks, with the scale, speed, and persistence of these attacks only set to continue to rise."

To enhance protection, TrendAI ™ recommends:

• Prioritize fixing internet-facing systems. Maintain an accurate inventory of public network Web servers, applications, and cloud services, apply security updates in a timely manner, prioritize addressing vulnerabilities that are currently being actively exploited, and use virtual patches to fill in the gaps before the fixes are tested and deployed.
• Reinforce the Web server. Restrict write permissions to application code, isolate file upload directories to prevent uploaded content from being executed as scripts, and monitor for unauthorized changes to application files and configurations.
• Monitor database access. Detect sensitive database operations and abnormal access patterns; ensure that applications run using database accounts with the minimum necessary permissions.
• Inspect suppliers. Ask hosting and cloud service providers how they will notify you in the event of an incident, review which third parties hold customer data, and ensure that critical services can be restored independently of any single supplier.
• Strengthen identity verification. Review the process that relies solely on uploading photos of identification documents, and adopt chip-based or other more robust verification methods to comply with regulatory guidelines.
• Include the use of AI within the protection scope. Identify the AI applications, models, and agents used within the organization, assess their origin and credibility, review their access rights to sensitive data and internal systems, and implement appropriate security controls and approval processes.

TrendAI ™Threat researchers and incident response teams are tracking the activities behind the current wave of incidents in Japan and will release more findings as the analysis progresses. Organizations that wish to discuss their exposure can contact their TrendAI ™customer support team.

In addition, the TrendAI Vision One ™ platform is specifically designed to help organizations address the growing AI security risks, which stem from shadow AI, sensitive data submitted to external services, or AI intelligents that have excessive permissions and are connected to internal systems. Vision One adopts a unified model of visibility, observability, operability, and governance that covers endpoints, cloud, identity, data, and AI, providing security personnel with tools to predict and prevent threats before they affect business operations. To further assist organizations in identifying and reducing AI risks, TrendAI will introduce new features to the Vision One AI security suite in December 2026, including AI Gateway and AI Risk Insights solutions with digital asset reputation scoring. With these new controls incorporated into Vision One, organizations will be able to fully achieve:

• Visibility – Mapping of AI and the sensitive data it touches.
• Observability – Continuously assess risks and monitor interactions between models, applications, agents, MCP servers, and AI in datasets to quickly detect and respond to potential attacks.
• Ownership —— Control of the AI identity, including establishing ownership and managing access rights.
• Governance – Proving to the board of directors and regulatory authorities the risk control and ongoing compliance of AI.

Availability: TrendAI ™ Vision One AI Risk Insights (including the AI digital asset credit assessment capability) is scheduled to be officially provided in January 2027.

About TrendAI ™: TrendAI ™ is a global leader in AI security and also a business unit of Trend Micro. It is committed to providing organizations with comprehensive AI visibility, governance, and integrated security capabilities, helping businesses build confidence, drive innovation, and eliminate risks. TrendAI ™ is trusted by the largest enterprises and government agencies in 185 countries, providing security protection for entire organizations from identity to infrastructure to data. Fortune Global 500 companies rely on TrendAI ™, leveraging world-leading threat and attack intelligence to intercept threats up to 115 days in advance.

Through deep ecological cooperation with market leaders such as NVIDIA, Anthropic, AWS, Google, and Microsoft, TrendAI™ helps the team to move forward safely at the speed of AI. For more information, please visit trendaisecurity.com.