Nikkei Discloses Breaches of Employee Google and Microsoft Email Accounts
Summary
Nikkei says attackers accessed two employee email accounts: a Google Workspace breach may have exposed 1,646 people’s names and email addresses, while a Microsoft 365 account was used to send 9,000 phishing emails.
Key points
- Attackers accessed an employee’s Google Workspace account in late July; Nikkei learned of the breach after Google notified it in early August.
- The Google account breach may have exposed the names and email addresses of 1,646 employees and business partners, but not reader or interviewee data.
- In September, attackers accessed another employee’s Microsoft 365 account and used it to send 9,000 phishing emails to Nikkei staff and interviewees.
- The phishing emails, sent on September 30, contained links to malicious websites.
- Nikkei changed the affected account passwords, reported no further unauthorized logins, contacted recipients, and asked them to delete the emails.
- Nikkei has not identified the attackers or said whether the two incidents are connected.
Article Details
- Victim Organization
- Nikkei
- Incident Type
- Unauthorized access to two employee email accounts; one account was used to send phishing emails.
- Incident Date
- 2026-09-30
- Disclosure Date
- 2026-10-04
- Data Types Exposed
- Employee and business partner names and email addresses may have been exposed through the Google Workspace account.
- Affected Records
- Personal information of up to 1,646 individuals may have been exposed.
- Operational Impact
- Attackers used the Microsoft 365 account to send approximately 9,000 phishing emails to Nikkei staff and interviewees.
- Claim Status
- confirmed
MITRE ATT&CK
Vendors
Products
Google WorkspaceIn a Sunday statement, the company said an employee's Google Workspace account was accessed in late July, exposing the personal information of employees and business partners.Microsoft 365More recently, threat actors accessed another employee's Microsoft 365 account in September and used it to send 9,000 phishing emails targeting Nikkei staff and interviewees.
Countries
Industries
Media"On September 30th , emails containing links to malicious websites were sent to internal staff and to interviewees with whom several employees had been in contact," the media giant said.PublishingOver the weekend, Japanese publishing giant Nikkei disclosed that unknown attackers recently breached two employee email accounts and used one to send thousands of phishing emails.