Govt Compiles Proposal on Laws for ‘Active Cyber Defense’; Analysis of Communications Between Japan, Overseas Featured

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:00 JST, November 30, 2024

The government compiled a proposal on Friday for the establishment of legal systems focusing on the prevention of major cyberattacks.

Among the key points of the proposal is one stating that the government should obtain and analyze electronic communications sent between foreign countries and Japan under the supervision of an independent agency.

A government panel of experts chaired by Kenichiro Sasae, a former Japanese ambassador to the United States, held its fourth meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office to compile the proposal for establishing the laws.

“The need to improve Japan’s cyber response capabilities is becoming increasingly urgent given the current security environment,” Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said at the opening of the meeting.

He instructed digital minister Masaaki Taira to draw up the relevant bill as soon as possible while taking the proposal into account.

The government plans to submit a bill to the ordinary Diet session next year, with the aim of putting the system into practice.

The proposal set out specific measures on strengthening public-private sector cooperation, the use of information from electronic communications and operations to penetrate and neutralize an attacker’s server.

Concerning public-private sector cooperation, the proposal called for the creation of a framework for the sharing of information. It also proposed making it compulsory for power companies and other operators of key infrastructure to report cyberattacks.

Regarding electronic communications, the proposal noted that since most attacks are conducted from overseas, it is necessary to analyze not only communications from one overseas location to another via Japan, but also from overseas to Japan and from Japan to overseas.

It stated that the information in electronic communications to be monitored are mainly things like IP addresses. The proposal excluded information related to personal communications such as the content of text messages.

To protect the “secrecy of any means of communication” guaranteed in the Constitution, the proposal also included the idea of creating an independent body to oversee the government through procedures such as obtaining prior authorization.

The police are listed as the body that should act first on operations to penetrate and neutralize a server, given that these are measures to be taken in normal times when a situation has not escalated to the point of an armed attack.

In cases where there is a particular need, from the perspective of maintaining public order, the proposal states that such operations should be jointly carried out by the police and the Self-Defense Forces.

Also included was the establishment of a system that could be implemented immediately in the case of an emergency, with reference to the Police Duties Execution Law.

The proposal called for the gathering of human resources in a governmental body to act as the control tower, the utilization of qualifications to develop highly skilled human resources and the improvement of working conditions.