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OP 07 November, 2024 - 07:26 AM
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TOKYO (Kyodo) — The Japanese government is unlikely to introduce a planned bill to strengthen cybersecurity before the end of the year, a government source said Sunday, as discussions have stalled following a change of prime minister last month and the ruling party's defeat in a general election.

The bill, originally scheduled for submission to an extraordinary Diet session in the fall, aims to implement "active cyber defense," an approach that would monitor and identify signs of cyberattacks on government agencies and critical infrastructure and, if necessary, disrupt enemy servers with computer viruses to neutralize them.

Among the issues to be addressed are concerns that active cyber defense, which would include monitoring communications under normal circumstances, could violate the constitutional guarantee of communications secrecy.

Just days after the panel compiled an interim report on August 6 on ways to improve cybersecurity, then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced he would not run in the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in September, signaling his departure from office.

No further meetings have been held since.

The political environment has also become uncertain after Shigeru Ishiba, who succeeded Kishida, faced a crushing defeat for the ruling LDP-Komeito coalition in the October 27 general election, prompting the bloc to seek opposition partners to secure a majority to pass legislation.

"Coordination within the government has not stopped. The earliest the bill could be submitted is the next regular Diet session," the former defense minister said.

One government official noted that the ruling coalition is now "a minority government that is fully focused on securing opposition support for the fiscal 2024 supplementary budget."

There have also been rumors within the LDP that momentum for the cyber defense initiative is waning, especially given that former LDP Secretary-General Akira Amari, who championed the policy, lost his seat in the House of Representatives election.

The LDP’s election platform emphasized the need to raise Japan’s cyber security to the level of the United States and major European countries, including through the implementation of proactive cyber defense.

source : https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/202...na/032000c