Tokyo, Oct. 23 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Friday that the government will step up cybersecurity measures across relevant ministries and agencies in response to a recent series of personal data breaches caused by cyberattacks. “Under the leadership of the prime minister’s office, we will develop the necessary framework and accelerate measures at relevant ministries and agencies,” she said. At a meeting at the prime minister’s office, Takaichi received a proposal calling for the establishment of a headquarters to counter cyberattacks from Masaaki Taira, head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Headquarters for National Cybersecurity Strategy. “The situation is urgent, and public concern has reached a far more serious level than before,” she said in the meeting. “In response to cyberthreats that are becoming more serious in both scale and sophistication, we will first work to strengthen cybersecurity, with the National Cybersecurity Office serving as the command center,” the prime minister added. The proposal described the current spate of unauthorized access incidents as the eve of a cyber emergency. It also said that AI-driven cyber saturation attacks, in which cyberattacks are launched simultaneously using artificial intelligence, are becoming a realistic threat. It called for measures such as securing so-called white hat hackers, or ethical experts with advanced cybersecurity knowledge, establishing a liaison point for collaboration with leading AI companies, and considering making it mandatory to obtain My Number identification cards. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
