TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has urged her ministers to strengthen a recent cybersecurity act to enable the government to better detect and analyze cyberattacks in order to bolster prevention and containment capabilities.

"I would like you to look into amending the law to bolster Japan's ability to gather information to help understand cyberattacks targeting the country," Takaichi said at her office on Friday.

In October, reports of cybersecurity incidents from critical infrastructure companies, including cases of unauthorized access, surged to more than 10 times the month-earlier level, according to Japan's National Cybersecurity Office. Analysis of the attack methods suggests that artificial intelligence was likely often used.

The law on active cyber defense, passed in 2025, includes such measures as access to and neutralization of attacking servers by police and the Self-Defense Forces. It also requires critical infrastructure companies to report any damage. The systems for government information-gathering and analysis are slated to be in place by November 2027.

The government will now consider whether to expand the scope to include domestic communications and how to establish the authority to access networks to gather information. It will also examine whether to extend the duty to report damage from attacks beyond critical infrastructure.

At the meeting, the government adopted a package of emergency response measures against cyberattacks. The government will cooperate with American AI developers on early identification of warning signs and system vulnerabilities.

Japan's government is working more closely with such developers as Anthropic and OpenAI, asking them to provide information on vulnerabilities that could affect citizens' lives and national security ahead of public announcements.

The emergency package includes a plan to consider legal issues surrounding the creation of a mechanism by which telecommunications carriers could restrict access to sites containing leaked personal information.

This could take the form of blocking access to such websites, according to a senior government official. The legality of this needs to be reviewed, as it could violate the constitutional right to the secrecy of communications.

At a cabinet meeting Friday, the government decided to spend 10 billion yen ($63 million) from the fiscal 2026 reserve toward using AI to inspect critical government systems and shore up defensive capabilities.

Japan has little choice but to rely on large overseas technology companies for advanced AI and information on vulnerabilities, owing to a lack of experts and technological capacity in-country.

The government plans to leverage a public-private council provided for in the law on active cyber defense, encouraging participation from power companies, telecom companies and other critical infrastructure operators, as well as internet security companies and cloud services providers. Support for data backup and recovery measures for small and medium-sized enterprises will also be added.