Tokyo, Oct. 23 (Jiji Press)–Japanese industry minister Ryosei Akazawa on Friday announced a plan to establish a team of so-called white hat hackers, or ethical experts with advanced cybersecurity knowledge, to strengthen the country’s cyber defenses. The minister told a press conference that he has instructed industry ministry staff to set up the team at the government-affiliated Innovation Platform Agency within next month. “We will utilize high-performance artificial intelligence also for (cyber) defense,” he said. The new team will conduct penetration testing, or simulated cyberattacks to identify system vulnerabilities so that they can be addressed. Acknowledging that defensive measures often lag behind threats, Akazawa emphasized the importance of the initiative. “We want to go with the idea of attacking more than attackers do.” A series of unauthorized access incidents has come to light in Japan, including one at game maker Capcom Co., which said Thursday that some 11.77 million sets of personal information had been compromised worldwide. Suspected cyberattacks have been found at the Car Sensor used-car information website, operated by job information provider Recruit Co., and railway operator Keio Corp. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
