Japan Forms 'Top Gun' Cyber Team in ¥10 Billion Emergency Plan

Four pillars

The package rests on four areas: thorough basic measures that make use of AI, stronger intelligence and investigation, strategic handling of attacks, and better support for victims and containment of damage.

Under the first pillar, a team of highly skilled specialists, called the "Top Gun" team, will be set up within November. It will run simulated attacks to find weaknesses in systems. A support team built with specialist firms will also help local governments carry out vulnerability checks using AI models. To improve intelligence gathering, the government will ask security companies that hold large volumes of attack data to join the public-private cyber council.

On response, the government will create an "outreach team" that advises companies at risk before an attack, and a public-private "cyber rescue squad" to help victims with their first response. If an incident seriously affects national security or the economy and society, a "Joint Response Team" drawn from the National Cybersecurity Office (NCO), the National Police Agency and other bodies will be dispatched.

Blocking raises legal questions

For victim support, the package calls for rapid study of access-restriction measures by telecom carriers. This is understood to mean forced blocking of connections to certain sites, intended to prevent secondary harm such as misuse of leaked personal data. Blocking raises legal issues, however, including consistency with the secrecy of communications guaranteed by the constitution.

The next steps include setting up the Top Gun team this month and examining the amendment to the cyber response law.