November 6, 2020 Outcomes of the 13th ASEAN-Japan Cybersecurity Policy Meeting

The 13th ASEAN-Japan Cybersecurity Policy Meeting (hereinafter “Policy Meeting”) was held online on October 20, 2020.
The Policy Meeting has been held annually since 2009, with the purpose of enhancing international collaboration on cybersecurity among the ASEAN member states(hereinafter “AMS”) and Japan(^*1).
In this year, AMS and Japan exchanged views regarding the cybersecurity policies over the past year in the meeting, with particular reference to initiatives by each country under the circumstances of the spread of COVID-19. In addition, AMS and Japan confirmed and evaluated collaborative activities (hereinafter “CAs”) including cyber exercises, joint awareness raising, capacity building and mutual notification for incidents.
AMS and Japan confirmed progress of CAs in this Policy Meeting, also agreed to a new CA for promoting joint industry-government-academia collaboration to enhance cyber security throughout the ASEAN region.

• *1
  AMS: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Phillipines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam

1. Date and Time

2. Main achievements

In addition to confirming the current implementation status of the 9 CAs agreed upon at the 12th Policy Meeting held in Bangkok in October last year (Cyber Exercises, Critical Information Infrastructure Protection, Awareness Raising, Capacity Building, Mutual Notification for Incidents, Online Community, Reference (Handbook), Cybersecurity Metrics and Working Group Steering), participants also discussed collaboration and cooperation among AMS and Japan going forward. The main contents are below.

1. Enhancing the Information Sharing Framework and the Incident Handling Skills.

Outcomes of Remote Cyber Exercise and Table Top Exercise was reported, which were aimed to confirm the information sharing frame work and the incident handling procedures of international coordination. Remote Cyber Excecise was conducted with the highest number of participants from AMS and Japan in June 2020. It was ascertained that perception of importance towards cyber exercises is steadily increasing in each country.
Furthermore, this year’s outcomes of mutual notification for incidents was reported, and AMS and Japan agreed to be extended by one year 2021. Also, outcomes of efforts aiming to improve cybersecurity in each country based on evaluation index on cyberspace was reported.

2. Promoting Cooperation for Capacity Building and Awareness Raising

Current status was reported regarding the progress of capacity building (human resource development) in the field of cybersecurity and awareness raising. As part of these CAs, it was confirmed that some training programs run through ASEAN-Japan Cybersecurity Capacity Building Centre (AJCCBC) would be replaced by online programs and that AMS and Japan would promote the information sharing and discussions by utilizing a new online communication platform.
It was also reported that hands-on training regarding ICS (Industrial Control System) and workshop for Indo-Pacific Region called “JP-US ICS Cybersecurity Week” are under preparation to be held online.

3. Promoting Joint Industry-Government-Academia collaborative activity.

AMS and Japan agreed to a new CA “Joint Industry-Government-Academia” in line with the understanding that Joint Industry-Government-Academia is indispensable aiming to enhance cybersecurity throughout the entire ASEAN region, in order to share examples of Joint Industry-Government-Academia and to consider more effective international collaboration throughout the ASEAN region.

3. Upcoming Schedule

The 14th Policy Meeting is scheduled to be held in Laos next fall.

Contact Details

National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity
Person-in-charge：Mr.Takema, Counsellor, Ms.Harada, Deputy Counsellor
Tel：03-3581-3783　FAX：03-3581-7652

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
Office of the Director-General for Cybersecurity
Person-in-charge： Mr. Sasaki, Deputy Director,
Mr. Kashiwagi, Assistant Director, Mr. Mori, Officer
Tel：03-5253-5749　FAX：03-5253-5752

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
Cybersecurity Section
Person-in-charge ：Mr. Takeuchi, Director for International Affairs, Mr. Tsuneda, Assistant Director
Tel：03-3501-1253　FAX：03-3580-6239

Appendix

Presiding Ministries for Cybersecurity of 10 ASEAN Member Nations