On March 30, 2022 Japan introduced legislation to set up a new office and a special investigation team of the National Police Agency to deal with serious cybercrime cases.
With national jurisdiction and a launch date of April 1, a 200-member cybercrime investigation team will deal with serious cases such as attacks on national and local government as well as critical infrastructure. It will control cyber attacks from Japan and abroad.
This is the first time that the police station has been directly involved in crime investigations, as have other Imperial Guard headquarters, with the task of protecting the royal family, which it has done before.
After the war in Japan, local police in each of the 47 prefectures basically conducted investigations and arrested or searched. The newly created cyber police will be made up of about 240 officials and will focus on the cybercrime work that has been carried out in various offices so far.
The special investigation team will work from the Kanto Regional Police Office in Saitama, north of Tokyo.
As is customary abroad for national cybercrime agencies, the agency plans to send its investigators to Europe and elsewhere to take part in the joint operation.
The draft amendment to the Police Act was adopted by the Second Chamber in plenary on Wednesday.
By 2021, cybercrime in Japan will exceed 10,000 for the first time, with a sharp rise in reports of ransomware cases. There are also growing concerns about alleged state-sponsored attacks from China, North Korea and Russia.
