Combined cyber defense network progresses in Japan, Philippines, U.S. talks

FORUM Staff

Japan, the Philippines and the United States are advancing their cyber defense framework to safeguard critical infrastructure and government information amid increasing attacks.

Foreign policy officials held a cyber and digital dialogue on the sidelines of the Singapore International Cyber Week in October 2024 to discuss trilateral cooperation in cyberspace, including civilian cybersecurity capacity building, cybersecurity workforce development, maritime cybersecurity and information sharing, according to the U.S. State Department.

They also focused on opportunities to enable data sharing and continued progress in the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules Forum. The forum, created in 2022 by Canada, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and the U.S., establishes cooperation to promote the trusted data flows essential to economies.

The leaders of Japan, the Philippines and the U.S. announced their framework in April 2024.

A Japan-U.S. cybersecurity dialogue has been in place since 2013 to bolster situational awareness, cyber policy and capacity building. Other initiatives, such as the Dialogue on the Digital Economy and the Cyber Defense Policy Working Group, augment long-standing cybersecurity cooperation.

The Philippines and the U.S. held their inaugural cyber and digital policy talks in July 2024, committing to address common cyber threats and build a “secure, open and resilient cyber landscape and digital economy,” according to the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C.

As trilateral collaboration increases, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has cybersecurity experts working for two years in the Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), according to the Manila Bulletin newspaper.

The DICT, JICA and the U.S. Agency for International Development also held the Critical Information Infrastructures Protection Summit in the Philippines in October.

“It is clear that the internet is a global network that requires global protection,” Takema Sakamoto, JICA’s chief representative, said at the summit. “If one system is compromised, all systems are at risk, and everyone becomes vulnerable.”

Global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky ranked the Philippines fourth among nations with the highest web threats in 2023. Hackers attacked the country more than any other Southeast Asian nation, according to the Philippine News Agency.

Japan and the U.S., among other international partners, are cooperating to disrupt and expose hackers targeting institutions and critical infrastructure.

Researchers say the largest-scale threats come from state-sponsored groups in North Korea, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia. North Korea conducts ransomware campaigns to fund the regime’s illegal nuclear and missile programs. The PRC and Russia rely on digital espionage and attempts to compromise critical sectors such as communications, energy and transportation, according to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

CISA formalized its first International Strategic Plan in late October 2024 to engage multinational partners in protecting critical infrastructure across the globe. It calls for bolstering resilience by raising awareness among stakeholders, strengthening incident reporting and threat information sharing, increasing joint operational activities, and integrating cyber defense.

“This will create a foundation for advancing international efforts that mature our collective ability to plan for, detect, deter and disrupt emerging threats and hazards to cyber and physical infrastructure and interoperable emergency communications,” the plan states.