The announcement, made on Friday, followed a wave of disruptions affecting online services across several countries after the disclosure of critical PHP vulnerabilities triggered millions of hacking attempts. Organisations have been forced to introduce emergency security measures, patch affected systems or temporarily shut down websites to prevent potential attacks.
Japanese Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa said the latest incidents underscored the need for organisations to approach cybersecurity from the perspective of potential attackers rather than relying solely on existing protective measures.
"An attack can succeed by getting through just one hole ... for that reason it's important we shift our mindset and think from the perspective of the attacker," Akazawa said on Friday.
He added that organisations needed to incorporate artificial intelligence into their defensive strategies.
"Defenders also need to make use of AI and respond proactively, staying one step ahead," he said.
The disruptions have affected a broad range of services, including banking, aviation, rail transportation, taxation and government operations, with emergency shutdowns reported from Tokyo to Helsinki. The incidents have highlighted the vulnerabilities of longstanding software tools that underpin much of the modern internet.
In Japan, mobile carrier SoftBank announced on Friday that it was suspending its emergency mobile alert system while maintenance work was carried out to address a PHP-related vulnerability. During the suspension, customers would not receive early warnings for earthquakes, tsunami threats, disasters or evacuation instructions through the affected system.
The disruption also prompted several major Japanese companies and public institutions to temporarily suspend online services as a precaution.
Brokerage firm Nomura, financial services group Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) and East Japan Railway Company (JR East) were among the organisations that halted some internet-based operations. Japan's Ministry of Finance, National Tax Agency and Meteorological Agency also suspended selected online services.
By Friday, some services were beginning to return. JR East said certain services operated by its group had resumed, while the remaining services would be restored after their safety had been confirmed. Nippon Paint, meanwhile, said it had installed a security patch as a precaution and brought its website back online.
The incident has raised concerns about the growing role of artificial intelligence in both cyberattacks and cybersecurity defence. Experts say AI tools can help malicious actors automate the process of identifying software weaknesses, develop phishing campaigns and carry out attacks more quickly and cheaply, while making their activities harder to detect.
Eva Chen, chief executive of cybersecurity firm Trend Micro, said Japanese businesses could be attractive targets because of the extensive records they maintain. She noted that artificial intelligence was reducing the importance of language barriers that might previously have limited attackers' ability to exploit information.
Chen also argued that Japan had become too comfortable with its established technology infrastructure, believing it was sufficiently secure.
The vulnerabilities were discovered in PHP, a programming language used extensively in the development of websites and online applications. Similar to other technologies used to build web systems, PHP plays a significant role in supporting internet services across industries.
PHP's developers released security fixes on Wednesday after vulnerabilities that had remained undetected for years were uncovered with the help of artificial intelligence. They urged users to install the updates without delay.
The disclosure has intensified pressure on organisations to review their cybersecurity arrangements, particularly those operating critical services that depend on widely used software.
Japan's planned AI-driven simulation team is expected to help identify weaknesses before attackers can exploit them, reflecting a broader shift towards more proactive cybersecurity measures. However, the latest disruptions demonstrate how a vulnerability in a widely deployed technology can have consequences extending well beyond individual websites, affecting financial services, transportation and even emergency communications.
As organisations race to secure their systems, cybersecurity specialists warn that the increasing accessibility of AI tools is changing the balance between attackers and defenders, making rapid software updates, continuous testing and early detection increasingly important.