February 27, 2024 MIC conducts Cybersecurity Training & Exercise Program for the Pacific Island Countries

From Sunday, February 18 through Monday, February 26, 2024, a Cybersecurity Training & Exercise Program for Pacific island countries was conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) in Guam, of the United States of America.
MIC will continue to examine the provision of exercises tailored to the current situation and needs of the Pacific island countries in cybersecurity and contribute to cybersecurity capacity building in these countries.

1. Background and overview

Cyberspace is a domain that is used across national borders. Therefore, it is essential to promote international cooperation to ensure cybersecurity. In addition, it is important to contribute to international human resource development by providing capacity building support to developing countries, including those in the Indo-Pacific region, from the perspective of reducing cybersecurity risks for Japan and the entire world.
As part of the efforts towards realizing a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) advocated by the government, MIC invited government officials who are engaged in cybersecurity and employees of critical infrastructure operators, such as telecommunications providers, from the Pacific island countries (Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Kiribati), whose infrastructure-building and digitalization are advancing and geographical location is strategically important, to participate in a cybersecurity training which was aimed to acquire basic cybersecurity knowledge and cybersecurity capacity building exercise including the Cyber Defense Exercise with Recurrence (CYDER) (*1) in Guam, USA, from Sunday, February 18 through Monday, February 26, 2024.
This initiative is based on the knowledge gained from operating the ASEAN-Japan Cybersecurity Capacity Building Centre (AJCCBC) project, which Japan has been supporting for the ASEAN region since September 2018.
Moving forward, we will evaluate the results of this training and exercise, and further examine the provision of exercises that meet the cybersecurity situation and needs of Pacific island countries, thereby contributing to cybersecurity capacity building in these regions.

• (*1)
  Cyber Defense Exercise with Recurrence (CYDER) is a hands-on, practical cyber defense exercise conducted by Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) for information system personnel of national government agencies, local governments, independent administrative agencies, and critical infrastructure providers.

2. Event overview

Date and location: From Sunday, February 18 through Monday, February 26, 2024, in Guam, USA
Participants: Government officials and employees of critical infrastructure operators such as telecommunications providers from Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Kiribati, Fiji (*2), and Tonga (*3) (*2 and *3) Fiji and Tonga participated as observers.
Host: MIC (with instructors dispatched and training materials provided by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of the USA)