NTT Docomo Inc said Thursday it suffered a cyberattack that caused a website failure and some service disruptions for about half a day, making Japan's largest mobile carrier the latest victim in a series of similar incidents at major firms in the country.

The company said a system glitch lasted from around 5:27 a.m. to 4:10 p.m., making it difficult to connect to services, including the "goo" portal site, and that it was caused by a distributed denial-of-service attack, in which networks are overwhelmed by data from multiple sources over a short period.

The search function for the "d payment" smartphone payment service also experienced problems, although mobile phone and other communication services were not affected, it said.

Some Japanese firms have reported a series of system failures believed caused by the same type of attack since the end of last year.

Japan Airlines experienced a problem with its system used by passengers to check in their baggage on Dec. 26, while MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank and Resona Bank reported disruptions to online transactions and other problems between late December and Wednesday.