Google on Thursday inaugurated a cybersecurity hub in Japan, with the primary goal of enhancing defenses across the Asia-Pacific region.
Governments and security firms have highlighted the escalating cyber threat in the region, emanating from various actors, including criminal syndicates seeking substantial rewards and state-sponsored entities engaged in intelligence gathering or sabotage.
The targets of these cyber threats extend beyond governmental and military entities to encompass critical infrastructure like ports and businesses of various scales.
“We are officially launching the Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Japan, aiming to connect leading security specialists, researchers, and partners,” Google said in a statement.
The center will conduct research on cybersecurity in collaboration with universities and governments in Japan and elsewhere in the region.
The tech giant will also help boost cybersecurity at 300,000 small to mid-sized businesses, non-profits and other social organizations in the region, said Google’s Kazuya Okubo.
Google had warned in October that the region “is the target of more cyberattacks than any other”.
Governments, including Japan, have echoed those concerns.
In addition to large-scale fraud and ransomware activity by criminal groups, the United States and its allies in the region including Australia have blamed China and Beijing-linked groups for cyberattacks.
In September last year, Japan’s National Police Agency joined its American counterparts, including the FBI, in warning of widespread malware attacks by China-linked cyber actors known as BlackTech.
BlackTech has “targeted government, industrial, technology, media, electronics, and telecommunication sectors, including entities that support the militaries of the US and Japan,” the NPA said in a joint statement.
Washington has alleged that China represents “the broadest, most active, and persistent cyber espionage threat” to its government and private sector.
Beijing, for its part, accuses the United States of being the “world’s biggest hacking empire”, citing its well-documented forays into cyberwarfare, online surveillance and hacking.
[AFP]
