Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government plans to adopt a new cybersecurity strategy next month that addresses escalating digital threats from hostile state actors.
The initiative represents a critical expansion of Japan's defense posture as foreign powers intensify campaigns targeting national security, critical infrastructure, and democratic processes.
A draft strategy released in late November identifies an increase in state-supported cyber threats originating from China, Russia, and North Korea.
The policy framework explicitly acknowledges that state-backed cyberattacks continue targeting critical infrastructure to disrupt essential services, interfering in other nations' elections, and stealing sensitive government and corporate information.
The proposed strategy emphasizes "defense and deterrence with the state at the core," building upon legislation enacted in May 2025 that authorized the government to implement active cyberdefense measures.
This legal foundation enables Japanese authorities to monitor and disrupt hostile cyber infrastructure before attacks materialize—a significant departure from the nation's traditionally reactive posture.
Among the strategy's most pressing concerns lies the weaponization of artificial intelligence for information warfare. The draft expresses alarm at generative AI technologies being exploited to amplify misinformation campaigns and manipulate public opinion, characterizing such threats as endangering democratic institutions.
This concern reflects broader international anxieties evident during Russia's hybrid operations against Ukraine, where disinformation campaigns have proven as damaging as conventional attacks.
The new strategy mandates the establishment of unified cybersecurity standards for critical infrastructure operators during fiscal 2026. This regulatory framework consolidates requirements across sectors including financial services, telecommunications, energy, transportation, and healthcare—approximately 250 entities across 15 critical industries.
Organizations failing to meet these standards face potential consequences, including loss of government subsidies and mandatory incident reporting obligations to newly established government authorities.
Japan's National Cybersecurity Office will assume a central role in coordinating government response and intelligence operations. The office, established in July 2025 as an upgrade from its predecessor institution, now reports directly to the prime minister rather than through intermediary bureaucratic channels.
This structural elevation underscores the classification of cybersecurity as a strategic national security matter rather than merely an infrastructure protection concern.
The phased implementation of active cyberdefense capabilities continues through 2027, with the most consequential provisions becoming operational by 2026. These mechanisms include government authority to intercept foreign internet traffic traversing domestic infrastructure and to identify adversarial cyber operations before they cause harm.
A newly established Cyber Communications Oversight Commission will review and authorize government actions to ensure measures comply with constitutional protections and democratic safeguards.
The strategy's development occurs within the context of Japan's accelerating military modernization and defense expenditure. Prime Minister Takaichi committed to reaching defense spending of approximately two percent of GDP in the current fiscal year, advancing this timeline two years beyond the 2027 target previously established.
Cybersecurity capabilities constitute an integral component of this broader defense expansion, reflecting official recognition that contemporary security threats extend far beyond traditional battlefields.
Specific recent incidents have catalyzed Japan's defensive transformation. In August 2023, Chinese state-backed operatives breached Tokyo's defense networks—an attack described as among the most damaging cyberattacks in Japan's modern history.
Financial sector intrusions in 2025 involving approximately C$2.7 billion in unauthorized transactions demonstrated vulnerabilities in systems protecting national economic interests. These incidents exposed deficiencies in incident response capabilities and transparency practices among victim organizations.
The persistent operations of advanced threat actors targeting Japan illustrate the urgency behind the new strategy.
The state-backed group MirrorFace, believed to operate as a People's Liberation Army cyber unit, has conducted reconnaissance against Japanese government, political, and defense institutions since 2019, with attacks expanding to exploit vulnerabilities in healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications, education, and aerospace sectors. Such campaigns demonstrate the multisectoral nature of contemporary threats.
International coordination strengthens Japan's cybersecurity approach. The nation established intelligence-sharing arrangements with NATO member states concerning cyberattacks, malware analysis, and threat indicators from adversarial nations.
Cooperation with allies including the United States, Australia, and India through Quad security frameworks enables synchronized responses to regional cyber threats. Japan additionally engages Lithuania, recognized for its expertise managing Russian state-linked cyber operations, through defense ministry exchanges and operational consultations.
The cybersecurity workforce expansion constitutes another critical dimension of the strategy. Japan currently maintains approximately 24,000 specialized cybersecurity professionals but targets expanding this pool to 50,000 by 2030 to address estimated demand for approximately 110,000 skilled practitioners.
This personnel development targets deficiencies in defensive artificial intelligence, threat assessment, and incident response capabilities.
The strategy balances proactive defense with constitutional constraints. Japan's pacifist constitution historically restricted development of offensive intelligence capabilities compared to Western nations with robust signals intelligence agencies.
The new framework circumvents these constraints through statutory authorization for targeted cyberdefense operations executed by the National Police Agency and Self-Defense Forces under judicial oversight and parliamentary scrutiny.
Industries and private enterprises face evolving compliance obligations. Critical infrastructure operators must implement standardized protective measures and establish procedures for reporting security incidents, potentially losing access to government contracts or subsidies for non-compliance.
This regulatory framework incentivizes adoption of defensive technologies and operational security practices aligned with government standards.
Post-quantum cryptography modernization accompanies the broader strategic shift.
Japan's government plans transitioning internal communications systems from conventional public-key cryptography to quantum-resistant algorithms within the strategic implementation window, anticipating future threats posed by quantum computing technologies to current encryption standards.
The cybersecurity strategy reflects Japan's positioning as a confident security actor alongside democratic allies while maintaining constitutional principles and democratic governance.
The legislation and policy framework enable anticipatory threat neutralization, intelligence-sharing integration, and coordinated responses with international partners—collectively strengthening Japan's defensive capabilities against sophisticated state and non-state cyber operations.
