Japan: NTT Docomo hit by two incidents on 5 November, a suspected unauthorized access and a 5G SA outage
Checked on
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- Since the night of 5 November, “My docomo” and the online shop have been suspended because of a probable unauthorized access.
- Since midday, an outage has affected 5G SA subscribers; the initial inclusion of MVNOs was corrected.
- A headline of a follow-up article says switching to 4G and restarting may restore service.
- The link between the two incidents, the cause, the restoration and any leak could not be verified.
In this article
First incident: My docomo and the online shop
According to ITmedia NEWS (5 November, 12:55), Docomo judged an unauthorized access from outside “highly likely” and suspended “My docomo” and the “Docomo Online Shop” to look for the cause. The suspension began on 5 November at about 1:05 am. At 9:00 no restart date had been announced. For urgent procedures Docomo refers users to its shops and electronics retailers. On 22 October the operator had ended a preventive emergency maintenance and restored its services, including its corporate site, saying it had not found any unauthorized access. The article gives neither the number of users affected, nor the attack method, nor whether personal data leaked.
Second incident: outage in the middle of the day
According to ITmedia NEWS (5 November, 13:04, updated 15:27), Docomo announced that its mobile services were hard to use across the country from around midday: voice calls, data and SMS. The operator had first included the MVNOs using its network, then corrected this. According to the 15:20 addition, only Docomo “5G SA” subscribers are affected. The headline of a follow-up article says that choosing 4G (LTE) and restarting may restore service. The start time, the effect on emergency calls, the cause and the restoration time were “being checked” or not communicated at the time of the article.
Points not verified
The article does not say whether the two events are linked; we do not claim so either. We could not verify whether service has been restored, or whether any data leaked in the unauthorized access. 5G SA (standalone) refers to operation relying only on 5G equipment, without relying on the 4G network.
Learn the grammar
French grammar
Learn sentence patterns and usage from the article’s own sentences.
01Negation and its scope
ne / n’ … pas · ne … plus
Ce qui est établi et ce qui ne l’est pas.Key pointsNormally ne and pas wrap the verb. Before a vowel, ne becomes n’. Check which part of the sentence the negation covers. Ne … plus means “no longer”.
02Citing a source with selon
selon + noun / organisation
Selon ITmedia NEWS (5 novembre, 12 h 55), Docomo a jugé « très probable » un accès non autorisé depuis l’extérieur et a suspendu « My docomo » et la « boutique en ligne Docomo » pour en chercher la cause.Key pointsSelon means “according to”. Put a person or organisation after it as the source. It separates facts the writer checked directly from what another body or report said. Citing a source does not turn a forecast into an accomplished fact.
03Pouvoir: ability and possibility
peut / peuvent / pourrait + infinitive
Le titre d’un article de suivi indique que choisir la 4G (LTE) et redémarrer peut rétablir le service.Key pointsPut a base-form verb after pouvoir. Peut means “can” or “may”; the conditional pourrait gives a more reserved possibility, “might”. It does not necessarily mean implementation is settled.
04The passé composé for events
present of avoir + past participle
Selon ITmedia NEWS (5 novembre, 13 h 04, mis à jour à 15 h 27), Docomo a annoncé que ses services mobiles étaient difficiles à utiliser dans tout le pays depuis le milieu de la journée : appels vocaux, données et SMS.Key pointsIt reports past events, as in “announced” or “explained”. A / ont is the auxiliary avoir and the next word is the past participle. The passé composé alone does not tell you the date of the event.
05The present of être
est / sont + complement
Selon l’ajout de 15 h 20, seuls les abonnés Docomo en « 5G SA » sont concernés.Key pointsEst is third-person singular and sont third-person plural of être. They express “is / are” — a state or description. If a past participle follows, it is a different structure such as the passive, so check the words that follow.
06The subject relative pronoun qui
noun + qui + verb
Ce qui est établi et ce qui ne l’est pas.Key pointsQui continues a description of the person or thing just mentioned (“the one that does…”). Because qui is itself the subject of the next verb, do not repeat the subject. The verb agrees with the noun qui refers to.
Japanese grammar
Understand the structure and usage from the text.
01Citing a source: によると
noun + によると
ITmedia NEWS（5日12時55分）によると、ドコモは「外部から不正なアクセスが行われた可能性が高い」と判断し、原因を調べるために「My docomo」と「ドコモオンラインショップ」を止めました。Key pointsAs in “LCPによると”, it shows where the information comes from. What that source reported follows. It is used differently from “私にとって”, which gives one’s own opinion.
02Plan, outlook and policy
〜の予定 / 〜見込み / 〜方針
発生した時刻、緊急通報への影響、原因、復旧の見込みは、記事の時点では「確認中」または示されていません。Key points予定 is a plan, 見込み a forecast and 方針 a course of action or intention. None of them asserts that something has already been carried out. Note the difference from expressions such as “決まりました”.
03Expressing a possibility
〜可能性がある / 〜かもしれない
未明からの「My docomo」などの停止（外部からの不正アクセスの可能性）と、昼ごろからの通信障害（5G SA契約者）です。Key pointsThese forms say something may happen. Even when “possibility” is written, it does not mean it will certainly happen. Check whose forecast it is, plus the time and conditions.
04Cause or purpose with ため
〜ため / 〜ために
10月22日には、予防のための緊急メンテナンスを終え、会社のサイトを含むサービスを再開していて、そのときは不正アクセスは確認されていないと述べていました。Key pointsため is used for both reason and purpose. “成立ではないため” is a reason and “運転手を守るため” a purpose. Decide from the whole sentence whether what precedes is a cause or a goal.
05Giving examples with など
noun / expression + など
最初はドコモ回線を使うMVNO（格安SIMなど）も対象としていましたが、後に対象外と訂正されました。Key points“暴言など” gives “abusive language” as one example. It is not necessarily a closed list of only the things named. It also helps when reading the scope of a news story.
06The polite past ました
verb stem (連用形) + ました
11月5日、NTTドコモで別々の2件が起きました。Key pointsIn “発表しました”, ました makes a verb polite past. The negative is “ませんでした”. Read the actual date together with the date and time in the text.