Japan will develop its first-ever malware as a defense measure against cyber attacks

The news was reported by the Kyodo News and has caught my attention, Japan will develop its first-ever computer virus as defense against cyber attacks.

The Kyodo News revealed that Japan will develop its first-ever computer virus as a defense measure against cyber attacks and that the development will be completed by next March.

The Defense Ministry plans to use the malware as a vaccine that could neutralize the other malicious codes.

The Japanese Government aims at improving its defense capabilities in the fifth domain of warfare and wants to be ready to face threats from the cyberspace.

Japan wants to fill the gap respect more advanced countries in the cyber space. and plans to make important investimests to reach the goal in time.

“The government has said it is looking to enhance its defense capabilities beyond the ground, marine and air domains to address security challenges in new areas such as cyberspace and outer space amid technological advances in recent years.” states the KyodoNews website.

“Japan lags behind other countries in addressing the threat of cyberattacks. It plans to increase the number of personnel in its cyberspace unit to 220 from 150, compared with 6,200 in the United States, 7,000 in North Korea and 130,000 in China, according to the ministry.”

The efforts are the result of the latest national defense guidelines launched by the Defence Ministry in December.

The use of malware for defense purposes is in the middle of a heated debate. The cyberspace has no boundaries and the risk that malicious code will go out of control, threatening the sovereignty of foreign states, is concrete.

“Some defense experts say the ability to obstruct an enemy’s use of cyberspace could exceed the limits of the country’s exclusively defense-oriented policy.” continues KyodoNews.

The virus will be developed by private companies and will not be used for pre-emptive attack or active defense, a ministry source revealed.

The Government policy allows cyberattacks only against a country or any other organization considered equivalent to a country.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – malware, Japan)

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