Japan weighs wider communications monitoring to detect cyberattacks
Recent data breaches have prompted talks on wider monitoring, amid questions about the constitutional guarantee of secrecy of communications.
- Japan's government and ruling party are considering legal changes to expand government surveillance to include communications that occur entirely within the country.
- The proposed expansion is part of an "active cyberdefence" strategy aimed at improving the detection of cyberattacks, as current laws limited to international communications are considered insufficient.
- The plan has raised concerns about its compatibility with Japan's constitutional guarantee of communications secrecy, an issue the government intends to carefully review with experts.
Communications between parties inside Japan could be brought within the scope of government monitoring under proposed changes to active cyberdefence laws aimed at improving the detection of cyberattacks against the country.
A recent series of personal data breaches prompted detailed discussions on Monday (November 9) between the government and the ruling bloc led by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Ruling party members argue that the information available under current laws is insufficient to prevent attacks.
Those laws restrict monitoring to exchanges between Japan and other countries, or communications between foreign countries routed through Japan.
Speaking to reporters after Monday’s meeting of the LDP’s Headquarters for National Cybersecurity Strategy, former digital transformation minister Masaaki Taira said: “There is room for debate over whether we can respond effectively while keeping communications within Japan a black box.”
At the same meeting, Keitaro Ohno, a senior member of the headquarters, argued that amending the laws would be “only natural given the current situation”.
He added that the party would develop measures to ensure an effective response.
The discussions followed Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s instruction at a ministerial cybersecurity meeting on Friday to consider legal revisions alongside the creation of an emergency response package.
Explaining the government’s approach at a press conference on Monday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said it would “conduct discussions from the perspective of strengthening information-gathering capabilities”.
“We must consider the law revision while taking the ruling bloc’s position into account,” a government official said.
Preventing major cyberattacks before they take place is the purpose of active cyberdefence.
Under the programme, any signs of a potential attack detected through government monitoring of communications would prompt police and the Self-Defense Forces to hack into the attackers’ servers and neutralise threats.
Closer cooperation between the public and private sectors is another component of the programme.
Provisions covering that cooperation and threat-neutralisation operations took effect last month; the government plans to start communications monitoring by next autumn.
Some have questioned whether such monitoring would be compatible with the constitutional guarantee of communications secrecy.
The government and ruling bloc plan to seek expert opinions as they discuss the issue carefully.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
