A system glitch caused the websites of some businesses in Japan, the United States and Europe to be temporarily difficult to access on Thursday, but the problem was solved within an hour, U.S. firm Akamai Technologies Inc. said, ruling out the possibility of a cyberattack.

The internet disruption occurred in the early hours of Friday local time in Japan as the country braces for the official start of the Tokyo Olympics, with the opening ceremony scheduled later in the day amid high alert for possible cyberattacks.

The problem arose as "a software configuration update triggered a bug in the DNS system" which directs browsers to websites, the U.S. IT firm tweeted.

It added that normal operations were restored by rolling back the update, and confirmed the incident "was not a cyberattack against Akamai's platform."

In Japan, the websites of some companies including Japan Airlines Co. became hard to access briefly, while the online services of Sony Corp.'s PlayStation became unavailable.

Many companies around the world use the services of Akamai, which provides high-speed web viewing and video downloading.

According to U.S. and European media, American Express Co., British Airways Plc and Delta Air Lines Inc. were among the companies affected by the disruption.

==Kyodo

© Kyodo News International, Inc., source Newswire