Japan Leads Regional Effort to Fight Cybercrime
Japan continues to play a leading role in Indo-Pacific cyber security initiatives with its plans to launch a regional alliance to fight cybercrime in August 2019.
Tokyo’s latest contribution follows the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Japan Cybercrime Dialogue, which held its third meeting on January 18, 2019, in Brunei. The Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF), meanwhile, endowed a pair of far-reaching efforts: the ASEAN-Japan Cybersecurity Capacity Building Centre in Bangkok, which opened in September 2018; and the ASEAN Cyber Capacity Development involving Interpol, which ran from 2016 to 2018.
Also funded by JAIF is the ASEAN Cyber Capacity Development, a partnership project of ASEAN and Interpol, reported the Interpol secretariat.
“This project strengthened the ability of countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to combat cybercrime and work together as a region,” the statement said. “The project also fostered regional strategic discussion” while identifying trends and providing a foundation for improved information exchange.