[ITmedia News] Contingency funds of 10 billion yen will be spent to establish a "Top Gun Human Resources" team for emergency countermeasures against cyber attacks

On November 6, the government held a related ministerial meeting on cybersecurity and decided on an emergency countermeasure package in response to a series of large-scale information leaks caused by cyber attacks. We will promote the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and establish multiple teams of specialized human resources for everything from preventing damage to providing support after an attack, with the aim of improving our cyber response capabilities. The Cabinet also approved the expenditure of 10 billion yen from the reserve funds in the FY2020 budget.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called for the government to ``leverage the collective strength of the government to improve the nation's ability to respond.'' The Minister of State for Cyber ​​Security, Shunji Furukawa, was instructed to consider amending the Act on Strengthening Cyber ​​Capabilities in order to strengthen information gathering capabilities.

The emergency measures consist of four pillars: (1) Thorough implementation of basic measures that also utilize AI, (2) Strengthening of information gathering and investigation systems, (3) Strategic implementation of attack response, and (4) Strengthening of measures to support victims and prevent damage from spreading.

To thoroughly implement basic countermeasures that also utilize AI, a team of ``Top Gun Human Resources'' with highly specialized skills will be established in November to conduct tests to confirm system flaws through simulated attacks. We will build a support team in collaboration with specialized businesses and support local governments with vulnerability diagnosis using AI models. Regarding strengthening information gathering and investigation systems, the government will encourage security companies and other organizations that have a large amount of attack information to participate in public-private cyber councils.

Regarding the strategic implementation of attack response, we have established an ``outreach team'' to provide necessary advance advice to companies at risk of damage, and a ``public-private cyber rescue team'' to support the initial response of companies that have suffered damage. In cases where there is a serious impact on national security or the social economy, a ``Joint Response Team'' made up of the National Cyber ​​Control Office (NCO), the National Police Agency, etc. will be dispatched.

In order to strengthen measures to support victims and prevent the spread of damage, it is specified that telecommunications carriers should urgently consider measures to prevent access. Assume "blocking" that forcibly cuts off connection to the site. The aim is to prevent secondary damage such as misuse of leaked personal information, but there are also legal issues such as consistency with the ``secrecy of communications'' guaranteed by the Constitution.