On Monday, March 28th, the 21st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative (21JPSI*) hosted Ms. Mihoko Matsubara (NTT) for a virtual seminar on the current cyber threat landscape, Japan’s cybersecurity efforts to tackle those threats, and the potential direction of Japan-U.S. collaboration in 2022.
In her opening remarks, Ms. Matsubara, who serves as Chief Cybersecurity Strategist at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), provided an overview of recent efforts taken by the Japanese government to strengthen its cybersecurity, such as its participation in annual exercises led by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence. She also offered examples of Japan’s bolder cybersecurity actions in recent years, including public attribution of cyber attacks, as well as identification of specific countries as major threat attackers. In addition, she highlighted the effectiveness of Japan’s cybersecurity approach during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which led the country to adopt key cyber threat mitigation strategies known as the “Four Ts” and to place greater emphasis on early detection and response as well as layered defense.
After highlighting recent developments in Japan’s cybersecurity strategy, Ms. Matsubara outlined major challenges for both Japan and the U.S., such as an increasing number of ransomware attacks and supply chain disruptions. She also discussed the cybersecurity implications of the war in Ukraine. Finally, Ms. Matsubara emphasized the need for improved risk management and international cooperation in the face of borderless attacks, especially via the sharing of cyber threat intelligence and best practices. In articulating the importance of working with trusted partners and exchanging sensitive information, she noted that the Japan-U.S. alliance would be of particular importance.
After concluding her remarks, Ms. Matsubara engaged in a brief exchange with 21JPSI Director Adam Liff, followed by an open Q&A with the global audience of at least 50 faculty, students, and community members from across the United States and world.
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*The 21st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative (21JPSI) was launched at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies in 2018. Under the leadership of Founding Director and HLS faculty member Adam Liff, 21JPSI aims to invigorate and expand research, teaching, and programming on contemporary Japanese politics, society, and international (esp. U.S.-Japan) relations, and to educate, raise awareness, and debate policy responses to the various political, social, and foreign policy challenges that Japan faces in this extremely dynamic era of 21st-century change. Supported by a generous $900,000 grant from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, in its first five years 21JPSI has enabled a new tenure-track faculty line contemporary Japanese politics and society; launched four new courses on contemporary Japan and a multidisciplinary speaker series on Japanese Politics and Society; hosted national conferences and webinars on U.S.-Japan relations; and funded graduate fellowships and faculty travel grants to support research in Japan. For more information, please see https://jpsi.indiana.edu/ or write to jpsi@iu.edu.