Japan Pushes for Early Warning on Software Flaws From US AI Firms After Wave of Attacks

Japan plans to ask US artificial intelligence developers and other overseas technology firms for earlier access to information on software vulnerabilities that have not yet been made public, according to a report by the Nikkei newspaper. The aim is to help government agencies and operators of critical infrastructure respond more quickly to serious flaws. The government is expected to present an emergency cybersecurity package at a ministerial meeting that could be held as early as Friday.

The move follows an instruction from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in late October to bolster cyber defences after a recent rise in attacks. In October, government and corporate websites in several countries were disrupted after critical vulnerabilities were disclosed in the PHP programming language, which underpins much of the internet. The disclosure prompted millions of hacking attempts and forced website operators to protect their systems or temporarily shut them down.

Japan has also said it will set up a team that uses AI to simulate cyberattacks and identify weaknesses in technology systems. It recently sought expanded access to advanced AI models from major US developers, including Anthropic and OpenAI, in response to a wave of cyberattacks believed to have been aided by AI, Nikkei reported. This summary covers only the opening of the original report.