The government plans to draft a new cybersecurity strategy and have it approved by the Cabinet around June.

It will also mount attacks on computer networks operated by all government ministries and agencies to assess how secure they are, officials said Tuesday.

Cabinet ministers met with computer experts at the prime minister's office in the first ever meeting of the headquarters for cybersecurity strategies, a body created in January, led by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.

Working with the National Security Council, the body is expected to complete a draft strategy and seek public comments probably in late April before Cabinet approval, the officials said.

As the meeting kicked off, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said it is "essential" to have measures in place to counter cyberattacks ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, as "the threat is getting more serious."

Touching on the hacking last year of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Abe called cybersecurity an "important task in terms of national security and crisis management."

The Cybersecurity Basic Law grants the headquarters the authority to impose checks on whether ministers and agencies are taking appropriate steps to protect computer networks.