Japanese tech firm Mitsubishi Electric has disclosed an information leak that occurred more than six months ago.

The electronics manufacturing company said it has launched an official internal investigation after suspicious activity was observed taking place on the 28th of June 2019.

The company’s management said that, once the unusual behaviour was discovered on the network, it immediately took steps to restrict external access.

According to Japanese news site Nippon.com, hackers accessed servers and computers at Mitsubishi headquarters and other premises belonging to the firm in a large-scale attack.

Mitsubishi announced the breach after it was reported by two local newspapers, Nikkei and the Asahi Shimbun.

Mitsubishi said: “We have confirmed that our network may have been subject to unauthorised access by third parties and that personal information and corporate confidential information may have been leaked to the outside.”

Journalists at the Japanese newspapers suspect that the cyber attack was conducted by an espionage group linked to the People’s Republic of China.

Nikkei’s report stated that 200MB of data was stolen from Mitsubishi, but the electronics manufacturer said its investigation into the incident found no evidence that any sensitive information connected to its business partners or government defence contracts had been taken or misused.

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A Mitsubishi spokesperson said: “As a result of an internal investigation, it has been confirmed that sensitive information on social infrastructure such as defence, electric power, and railways, highly confidential technical information, and important information concerning business partners has not been leaked.”

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said the Government has been informed of the cybersecurity breach and that there was no leak of information related to defence equipment or to the electric power sector.

However, Mitsubishi has not explained why it waited six months since discovering the breach to go public with the news.