16 November 2024

Operationalizing Japan-U.S. Cooperation on Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity and Resilience

Taro Hashimoto

Cybersecurity has long been regarded as a critical part of national security. The sophistication, complexity, and scale of cyberattacks have increased, with state-sponsored actors posing significant threats to nations and international cybercriminal groups conducting massive attacks globally. Meanwhile, the ongoing digitalization of society is expanding cyberspace, leading to the complicated and expanded interdependencies among infrastructures, services, and functions. It is, therefore, becoming more important to ensure the cybersecurity and resilience of critical infrastructures that people and nations rely on every day.

The Japan-U.S. alliance has become more important than ever amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Indo-Pacific region, and cyberspace is playing a key role as a foundation for a robust alliance. The United States released the National Cybersecurity Strategy in March 2023, and Japan’s National Security Strategy (NSS), released in December 2022, puts a strong emphasis on fundamentally enhancing the country’s cybersecurity posture. In this report, CSIS Japan Chair visiting fellow Taro Hashimoto assesses the current state of Japan-U.S. cybersecurity cooperation and the prospects for future collaboration on critical infrastructure cybersecurity and resilience.

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