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21 December, 2017
The Japanese Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, Seiko Noda, announced on 24 August 2017 that the Japanese Government plans to establish a bureau dedicated to cyber security issues.
Minister Noda announced the establishment of the bureau in an interview with local press and an official announcement is expected soon. The bureau will handle cyber security issues that are currently managed on a divisional level within the Ministry. Minister Noda said that she will request funding to set up the bureau in the 2018 budget.
The bureau is widely expected to supplement rather than replace the existing National Information Security Centre (“NISC”), an agency within the Japanese Government responsible for formulating Japan’s information security policies.
Japan has been moving to strengthen its capacity to respond to cyber security incidents in response to what Minister Noda described as a “critical situation talent-wise compared to the U.S., Israel and others”. Developing people with the right skill set has been identified as a priority for Japan in the context of developing the digital economy. In a joint press statement following the US-Japan Policy Cooperation Dialogue on the Internet Economy held in Washington DC in September 2017, Japan affirmed the importance of making cyber security advances for the success of the digital economy. Both Japan and the US discussed national initiatives in response to cyber security threats including workforce development.
These developments follow on from the fifth Japan-US Cyber Dialogue held in July 2017 in which both nations pledged close cooperation and collaboration including with private sector agents to promote cyberspace resilience and security.
The two governments announced that the NISC would sign up to US Department of Homeland Security’s Automated Indicator Sharing programme, which allows cyber threat indicators to be shared between government and the private sector in realtime.
Click here to read the joint press statement for the US-Japan Policy Cooperation Dialogue.
Click here to read the joint statement of the Japan-US Cyber Dialogue.
For further information, please contact:
William Hallatt, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills
William.Hallatt@hsf.com
