Wiley Handbook of Science and Technology for Homeland Security, 4 Volume Set

JAPAN

MANUEL SUTER AND ELGIN BRUNNER

Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich, Switzerland

1 CRITICAL SECTORS

The critical infrastructures of Japan are defined in the Action Plan on Information Security Measures for Critical Infrastructures that was issued by the Information Security Policy Council in 2005: “Critical infrastructures are formed by business entities providing highly irreplaceable services and are essential for people's social lives and economic activities. If an infrastructure's function is suspended, reduced or unavailable, people's social lives and economic activities will be greatly disrupted” [1]. The paper lists the following ten sectors that are deemed to be critical:

• (Tele-) Communication,
• Government and Administrative Services,
• Finance,
• Civil Aviation,
• Railways,
• Logistics,
• Electricity,
• Gas,
• Medical Services,
• Water.

2 PAST AND PRESENT INITIATIVES AND POLICIES

The government of Japan, based on the Action Plan of the Basic Guidelines Toward the Promotion of an Advanced Information and Telecommunications Society of 1998,¹ has been steadily promoting policies contributing to the advancement of information technology and telecommunications in Japan [2].

The Comprehensive Strategy on Information Security, released in 2003 by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) was the next step of the policy development process. In this document, ICT-related risks and threats confronting the Japanese society were explicitly considered from a national-security ...