May 20, 2016
Japanese officials are considering creating a new government agency that will be tasked with protecting critical infrastructure against cyber-attacks, Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reports.
The new agency, currently named Industrial Cybersecurity Promotion Agency (ICPA), will start functioning in 2017, and the government wants it to be ready to defend the country’s most critical industrial equipment by 2020, when Tokyo will host the Olympic Games.
The targets that ICPA personnel will have to protect include electricity, gas, petroleum, chemical, and nuclear facilities. Additionally, smaller private firms in the defense industry will also benefit from the agency’s protection.