The government will ask 48 entities in charge of key pieces of infrastructure to help it take countermeasures against cyberthreats, an official said Sunday.
The 48 entities designated by the basic law on cybersecurity enacted last November include Nippon Telegram and Telephone Corp., operators of highways, parts of the Japan Railways group, NHK, the Bank of Japan and the Japanese Red Cross Society, the official said. Such entities might be asked to help, for example, by providing information on when they come under such attacks.
Ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, the government sees cooperation as necessary to better prepare for growing cybersecurity threats, recover from such damage and probe the causes, the official said.
The 48 entities were designated on Feb. 10 as targets with which the government is seeking cooperation in coping with cyberattacks, the official said, adding they will receive a request through the Cabinet cybersecurity center set up in January.
The 48 entities will also be asked to cooperate if their computer servers are used as a base for cyberattacks launched against foreign countries, the official said.
Under the basic law, municipalities and national universities are also subject to requests similar to those to be made of the 48 entities.