Aton Signs MOU With Japan's ALQOUZ to Sell PQC Security

Why Japan, why now

Aton points to a surge in attacks on Japanese companies across industries. Data from Japan's Personal Information Protection Commission shows 2,094 reported data leaks caused by unauthorized access between April and October 16 this year, already above the 1,256 recorded in the whole previous fiscal year. The leaked personal data covers about 260 million people, roughly twice Japan's population. Some companies have reset all member passwords after stolen credentials were used to break in.

The government is stepping up its response. On October 9 it asked companies to strengthen countermeasures, including multi-factor authentication. Japan's financial sector had earlier written stronger MFA into supervisory standards after phishing-linked fraudulent securities trades last year. In November last year, Tokyo also set a policy of moving government agencies to PQC by 2035 in principle.

Aton's offering

Aton supplies PQC-based authentication to banks, brokerages, crypto exchanges and fractional-investment platforms, and recently provided PQC-based OTP for the internal systems of Eastar Jet staff. It also sells secure key-storage media and the DefendUs anti-phishing service to banks, and is expanding into managed security through its security center.

CEO Woo Gil-soo said the deal gives the company a foothold in Japan using technology proven in Korean finance, and that Aton will work closely with ALQOUZ on phishing defense and quantum security.