The Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications revealed in a recent report that 2/3 of cyber attacks in 2016 were aimed at Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This coupled with preparing for the 2020 Olympics, resulted in the Japenese Government passing a law to allow for penetration testing on citizens’ IoT devices.
This will form part of a survey from the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). With Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the NICT will gather a list of unsecured devices and pass these onto the Internet Service Providers (ISP). Thereafter, authorities and ISPs will let individuals know the weaknesses they will need to remedy such as passwords. The NICT will test over 200 million IoT devices including cameras, appliances and routers.
