ZOAHARIAN.COM - The Japanese government is starting to develop a new strategy to face the threat of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks. One of the steps being prepared is to request early access to information on software security gaps that have not been published by technology companies and artificial intelligence (AI) developers from the United States (US).

This step was taken by Tokyo to strengthen national digital defense, as well as anticipate hacking attacks that could potentially target government institutions, companies and vital infrastructure.

Quoting a Nikkei report, Thursday (5/11/2026), the Japanese government is expected to announce an emergency cyber security package at a ministerial level meeting this week.

This policy is a follow-up to instructions from the Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, at the end of last October. He asked his staff to immediately formulate mitigation strategies to face the increasing threat of cyber attacks in various countries.

This threat is increasingly becoming a concern after a critical security gap was discovered in the PHP programming language. This technology is one of the important components used to run various internet sites and services.

The vulnerability triggered a wave of attacks targeting millions of systems. A number of government and company-owned sites in various countries were reported to be affected, and some managers were even forced to stop services to prevent wider damage.

Japan Uses AI to Simulate Hacker Attacks

Not only expanding access to security information, Japan is also preparing a new approach by utilizing AI technology.

The government has formed a special team tasked with using artificial intelligence to simulate cyber attacks independently. This technology is expected to be able to identify weak points in digital systems before they are discovered and exploited by hackers.

Through this method, the government can test network resilience, detect potential vulnerabilities, and prepare protective measures in advance.

Japan also wants to obtain information about software security vulnerabilities before they are announced to the public. This initial information is considered important so that government agencies and strategic infrastructure operators have time to repair systems before attackers exploit vulnerabilities.

Aim at Anthropic AI Technology and OpenAI

To strengthen digital defense capabilities, Japan has also proposed expanding access to advanced AI models belonging to US technology companies.

Two companies of concern are Anthropic and OpenAI.

The involvement of AI companies is important because artificial intelligence technology is now not only used for industrial development and productivity, but also has the potential to be used in cyber attack activities.

AI's ability to analyze code, find software weaknesses, and help automate certain processes makes digital threats increasingly complex.

Therefore, Japan is trying to utilize similar technology to strengthen its defense system while anticipating continually developing attack patterns.

This strategy shows that digital security competition now depends not only on the strength of the technological infrastructure, but also on the speed of detecting and closing security gaps.

For Japan, getting early information about software vulnerabilities is an effort to prevent attacks before they turn into major disruptions to public services and economic sectors.