In recent years, with the ongoing and exponential increase of technological advancement, nations such as Japan remain observant and cautious when approaching technology-based infrastructure. Around the world, international cyber-terrorist groups have enacted malicious attacks on global infrastructure, using suspicious malware. An example of this was the attack on the United States’ Colonial Pipeline, which compromised software and data, resulting in reverberations around the world. The Federative Republic of Brazil is one of the many nations that suffered attacks from the same cyber-terrorist group that targeted the Colonial Pipeline, threatening national security and leaving one of the world’s top leaders in energy infrastructure frightened and uncertain about the future of their foundations.
The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry of Japan has disclosed that cyber attacks on the nation’s critical infrastructure have exceeded 128 billion in recent years. These reports, along with the many consequential attacks on infrastructure sectors around the globe, have sparked discussion amongst nations in order to pursue a feasible solution. Regarding the effects cybercrime has on crucial energy infrastructure, influential nations such as the Federative Republic of Brazil, expressed that 37% of the nation’s infrastructure companies feel threatened by cyber-terrorist groups. The nation, as previously discussed, was targeted by the ransomware gang that attacked Colonial Pipelines in their COPEL and Electrobas companies, directly impacting other Brazilian companies and leaving their security fractured. Representing one of Brazil’s major Asian partners, Japan urges to aid them in solutions to ensure threat levels are diminished. A recent law has been enacted in Japan to create a cybercrime bureau at the Japanese police agency, investigating crimes and searching for compromised data, stationed in Saitama, north of Tokyo. The Japanese government is also looking to require that companies in key infrastructure sectors such as finance, telecom, and transport, have rapid, readily available plans to combat the ongoing threats that plague the nation.