Japan Eyes Monitoring Int'l Communications for Cyber Defense
Tokyo, Dec. 7 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government plans to monitor international communications linked to the country without the consent of those involved if it obtains prior approval from an independent third-party organization, as part of cyber defense efforts, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday.
The government will submit a related bill to an ordinary session of the Diet, Japan's parliament, to be convened in January next year, to develop legislation for active cyber defense, or pre-emptive action to prevent cyberattacks, according to the sources.
The envisaged active cyber defense system is to acquire and analyze communications information even in normal times. If there is a risk of a serious attack, police or the Self-Defense Forces will break into the attacker's server and take measures to make the attack harmless.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba stressed at a meeting of the House of Representatives Budget Committee on Thursday that Japan is vulnerable to cyberattacks. "We'll compile a bill as soon as possible and have it deliberated in the Diet," he added.
The government's monitoring targets are expected to be communications between foreign countries via Japan, from Japan to foreign countries, and from foreign countries to Japan. This is based on the fact that most cyberattacks in Japan come from outside the country.
While the government had focused on communications between foreign countries via Japan, an expert panel recommended the government prevent attacks from outside Japan and those on foreign countries from hacked personal computers in the Asian nation.
Subject to the government's surveillance will likely be limited to communications with foreign servers that were used for attacks in the past.
As there are concerns that damage to critical infrastructure, such as power suppliers and airports, could cause major economic disruptions, the government plans to monitor such facilities' international communications with the prior consent of their operators.
The third-party organization will not only give a prior approval of surveillance but will also check the monitoring process and the situation after the surveillance. It is also expected to submit regular reports to the Diet and others.
Although it would be challenging to monitor communications while protecting the secrecy of communications guaranteed by the Constitution, the government believes that certain restrictions can be introduced from the viewpoint of public welfare, the sources said.
Communications between individuals and businesses as well as emails are likely to be excluded from the scope of monitoring, they said.
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