The  Chinese People's Liberation Army is believed to be involved in the incident.

The Gifu Prefectural Government headquarters and a television station in Osaka Prefecture were among the targets in a major series of cyberattacks in 2016 and 2017 in which the Chinese People's Liberation Army is believed to have been involved, sources have told the Mainichi Shimbun.

The attacks are said to have targeted other local bodies besides the Gifu Prefectural Government. No information leaks have been confirmed, the newspaper reported.

When approached by the Mainichi Shimbun, a Gifu Prefectural Government official commented, "We weren't aware that we were hit by a cyberattack, but we did receive an inquiry from police in April this year. We checked the prefectural government servers, but there were no logs showing that information had been taken out."

To date, it has emerged that some 200 organizations including the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, major electronics manufacturer Mitsubishi Electric Corp., major heavy industries firm IHI Corp. and Keio University were targeted in the attacks, the newspaper reported.