Google Establishes Asia-Pacific 'Cyber Defense' Hub in Tokyo to Counter North Korean and Chinese Attacks

"90 Billion Won Investment in Japan This Year"
Countering Hacker Groups from China and North Korea

Global big tech company Google has established its first cyber defense base in the Asia-Pacific region in Tokyo, Japan, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported on the 8th.

At this cyber defense base opened in Google's Tokyo office, information sharing on the latest cyber attack techniques and training of cybersecurity professionals will be led by Google engineers. In addition, engineers from companies located not only in Japan but also in South Korea, India, Australia, and Southeast Asia will be invited to jointly research cyber defense measures.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Google announced the 'Digital Future Initiative' in Japan in 2022, stating that it would invest a total of 100 billion yen (approximately 900 billion KRW) in Japan by 2024. As the first step, in 2023, it opened Japan's first data center in Inzai City, Chiba Prefecture. The newspaper noted, "Google aims to continuously develop data infrastructure in Japan based on massive capital investment to enhance the reliability of data."

The reason Google is so focused on cybersecurity is interpreted as the increasing risk of cyber attacks by China and North Korea targeting companies and government agencies in the Asia-Pacific region. In September 2023, the Japanese National Police Agency and the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) warned that a hacker group linked to the Chinese hacker organization 'BlackTech' has been conducting cyber attacks to steal information in East Asia, including Japan, and the United States.

Also, the U.S. cyber threat analysis firm Recorded Future found that about 80% of attacks by the North Korean government hacker group 'Lazarus' occur in Asia. Taiwan's cybersecurity company TeamT5 also reported that the Chinese hacker group 'APT Group' targets Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian countries.

Heather Adkins, Senior Director of Information Security at Google, said, "With the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated," adding, "Based on Google's expertise in responding to cyber attacks over many years, we want to help users safely use technology in their daily lives."

The Japanese government also announced its national security strategy in 2022, stating that it will "improve cyber defense capabilities to a level equal to or higher than major Western countries." To this end, it plans to increase cybersecurity specialists more than fourfold from the current 4,000 by 2027 and expand the number of Self-Defense Force officers with related expertise to about 20,000.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.