Japanese companies are under increasing attack from cyber criminals, and the government says it is ready to step in to coordinate a more offensive approach to cyber defense. The Kishida administration is looking to bolster Japan’s cyber defense capabilities by establishing an “active cyber defense” system, which monitors cyberspace and takes preemptive action to neutralize an attack before it escalates.
But, the ambitious plan to safeguard cyberspace faces debate over questions of government surveillance, data privacy, and the protection of personal information against a potential misuse of power.
Japan’s cyber defense countermeasures are in the spotlight with a string of cyber attacks aimed at businesses. Japanese news video site Nico Nico is the latest company to have its website shut down under a suspected cyber attack. The damage has spread to multiple entertainment and e-commerce platforms owned by parent company Kadokawa, which saw its share price temporarily fall 4 percent on the Tokyo Stock Exchange this week. Kadokawa says an investigation into the ongoing shutdown is still underway with the help of experts and the police.
Cyber crime in Japan is on the rise. The number of attacks has jumped 35-fold in the last 10 years. One type of cyber crime is Distributed Denial-of-Service or DDoS attacks, which disable websites when attackers flood a server with internet traffic to prevent users from accessing the site. The number of DDoS attacks reported to authorities has increased almost 15 times compared to the previous year.
The government has positioned cyber defense as a matter of national security, given that cyber attacks can threaten critical infrastructure such as telecommunications, the electricity grid, healthcare, cashless payments and remote work. Notable corporations such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which has defense contracts with the government, and the Port of Nagoya, Japan’s largest port, have come under large-scale cyber attacks. Last year a ransomware attack on the Port of Nagoya brought cargo logistics to a standstill for three days. The government’s cyber security agency, the National Center of Incident readiness and Strategy for…
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