Japan government website hit by cyberattack; pro-Russia group claims role

The Japanese government’s web portal e-Gov was hit by a cyberattack and became inaccessible Tuesday, its cybersecurity response center said, with a pro-Russian hacker group appearing to claim responsibility for the incident.

The National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity said the website came under a so-called DDoS attack, in which a network is overwhelmed by hackers sending floods of data from multiple sources over a short period. It became inaccessible from around 4:30 p.m. and remained disrupted into the night.