NTT CEO Shimada Urges Legal Basis for Blocking Attacker Sites

Balancing user protection and secrecy of communications

On blocking in general, Shimada said user protection must be reconciled with the secrecy of communications guaranteed by the constitution. He argued that guidelines should be drawn up beforehand, anticipating which cases would justify a block.

At present, blocking of sites related to child sexual abuse material is accepted as emergency avoidance. In earlier discussions, however, the same treatment was not approved for pirate sites or illegal online casino sites.

AI and a surge in attacks

With concern growing over the misuse of high-performance AI in cyberattacks, Shimada noted that the most advanced models are not available in Japan, so users must access them from overseas. He stressed the importance of building AI that can be managed and operated domestically.

He also disclosed that 12 information leaks occurred at NTT Group companies and their contractors between September and October, when a string of breaches came to light. Five of them, including a solar power remote-monitoring service and the e-book store Comic C'moA, were attributed to NTT's own side, and he apologized for them. Cyberattack detections in October were seven times higher than a year earlier, he said.