Cybersecurity Overview of Japan

Japan’s Cybersecurity Reform and Cyberpower Ambition

Abstract

Over the past decade, Japan has invested significant resources in developing its cyber defense system, driven by threat perceptions associated with the demonstrated offensive cyber capabilities of its regional adversaries such as Russia, China, and North Korea. This research, based on secondary source analysis, explores the country-specific factors that enable or limit the implementation of active cyber defense outlined in Japan’s strategic documents and the application of offensive cyber capabilities. The study argues that three key factors influence these efforts. The first stems from the legal framework, which continues to constrain Japan’s potential responses in cyberspace to such an extent that the effectiveness of cyber defense based on denial-of-success deterrence mechanisms is questionable. However the other two factors, in a security policy context, facilitate the lawful use of offensive capabilities. These include the development of an international cyber defense cooperation network and reforms aimed at enhancing the resilience of the cybersecurity ecosystem.