Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announces emergency cybersecurity plan: allocating JPY10 billion for AI defense and vulnerability screening

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced a package of emergency cybersecurity measures on Friday, aiming to take a more proactive stance against cyberattacks after a string of security breaches rattled the Japanese business community. She said the package will include the use of artificial intelligence to strengthen basic defense measures and cyberattack response capabilities. About JPY10 billion ($63.2 million) has been allocated for related measures, covering deeper investigation and analysis of attacks as well as support for victims. "Even at this very moment, unauthorized access and data leaks are occurring, which could have a major impact on people's lives and the business community," Takaichi said at a Cabinet meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday evening to discuss the plan. "We will make every necessary effort to ensure the enhancement of the country's ability to respond to such incidents," she said. The Japanese government will accelerate plans to use AI to conduct a comprehensive screening of critical infrastructure and systems used by government agencies by next March to eliminate security vulnerabilities. The screening is expected to cost about one-fifth of the JPY10 billion package, according to reports. Cyberattacks and vulnerabilities found in the PHP programming language used by some websites have made a rapid response an urgent priority for Japanese companies and the government. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party said the recent wave of cyberattacks constitutes a serious crisis that could be called "the eve of a cyber state of emergency" and poses a threat to Japan's national security.