Japan's economy and industry minister used his November 2 post-cabinet press conference to set out how the ministry is trying to get small companies to defend themselves against cyberattacks. The remarks came in answer to a question about an emergency cyberattack package that the questioner said the government is to issue as early as this week.
The minister's case for small firms
Minister Akazawa said cybersecurity matters for companies of every size because an attack can affect trading partners along a supply chain. He named the constraint on small firms: limited staff and money to carry out countermeasures. The questioner had put small and midsize companies at more than 99% of all companies.
What METI says it is already doing
The ministry is promoting the "Cybersecurity Otasuke-tai service", which bundles abnormality monitoring and initial-response support at low cost into one package. Akazawa said METI is spreading it by making its introduction costs eligible under the Digital and AI Adoption Subsidy.
He also said that last month METI set up special cybersecurity consultation desks at the Yorozu support centres in each prefecture and at the IT Management Support Centre of the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation. To help with the first response to unauthorised access, a separate special consultation desk for unauthorised access has been opened at the Information-technology Promotion Agency (IPA).
What is still open
Akazawa described his plan only as continuing to spread these measures and to support small firms' security. The transcript gives no new subsidy amount, no new funding line and no date for the emergency package. The package itself was mentioned only in the reporter's question, so its contents and timing await a formal government announcement. These were remarks on November 2, not a new decision.