Japanese companies face a growing need to strengthen their cyber defenses amid the recent targeting of companies in ransomware attacks and escalating geopolitical tensions. This article reviews major incidents, assessments by the government and research institutions, and the measures companies should take.
Over the past year, a succession of ransomware incidents targeting Japanese companies has been reported, including incidents involving Asahi Group Holdings, ASKUL, Nichirei and the Keio Electric Railway Group. The damage led to delays in orders and shipments and affected sales, exposing vulnerabilities in the supply chain.
In international assessments, Japan received a high overall score of 97.58 in the ITU Global Cybersecurity Index 2024, while ranking 16th in the National Cyber Power Index 2022 from Harvard University's Belfer Center, indicating a meaningful gap between the assessments. Questions continue to be raised about Japan's ability to respond to attacks targeting critical infrastructure. These assessments have prompted calls for Japan to strengthen its detection and recovery capabilities against attacks that could bring critical infrastructure to a halt.
Against a backdrop of heightened geopolitical risks, there are concerns that cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure such as water and electricity facilities will expand. In Japan, measures for water-supply facilities were also added to the scope of subsidies provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Developments related to Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran also suggest that attacks can spread across regions. Continued vigilance is required.
Basic corporate defenses are said to include taking inventory of IT assets and identifying shadow IT, introducing multifactor authentication, monitoring post-intrusion activity through behavior detection, and establishing backup systems. Measures against scams using AI and shadow AI, as well as enhanced employee training, are also regarded as important.