On Wednesday, 17th January, the UK and Japan agreed to a Memorandum of Cooperation to mature the two countries’ public-private partnerships in cyber.
This Memorandum is the culmination of many months of open and collaborative sessions between “one of our closes strategic partners” as Japan was described in the UK Government’s 2021 Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy. Japan made it clear that they feel the same way in their new National Security Strategy, published in December 2022.
In January 2023, the UK and Japan signed what has been called “the most important defence treaty between the two countries for over 100 years” and this quickly led to the ratification of the new Global Combat Air Programme to develop the next generation fighter aircraft between UK, Japan and Italy which will bring a decade of trade opportunities with it.
The G7 Summit was held in Hiroshima in May 2023 and, alongside global discussions including cyber threats, the UK-Japan Hiroshima Accords were signed which incorporated collaborations on the development of cyber capability between the two countries. This paved the way for the launch of a new cyber cluster called Cyber Hiroshima as a branch of Cyber Wales, with launch ceremonies in both Hiroshima and Tokyo in September. Further cyber cooperation has followed, with the National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Essentials certification of Japanese companies and the launch of the UK NCSC CyberFirst Programme taking place in Japan the week after next.
An inaugural Capture the Flag (CTF) competition is being run, in both languages simultaneously, using the SudoCyber gamified accelerated learning platform developed by a Welsh cyber security company based in Powys.
The event is being staged on the 8th of February by Cyber Hiroshima and Cyber Wales at the British Embassy and Ambassador’s Residence in Tokyo and John Davies MBE, Vice Chair of UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration (UKC3) and Co-founder of Cyber Wales, will be in Tokyo helping to marshal and judge the event.
John Davies said “This historic chain of increasingly collaborative steps by our two countries has the global cyber security threat at its core, from National Cyber Security Strategies to the launch of Cyber Clusters which operate in partnership, we are engaged in top-to-bottom cyber cluster collaboration. The opportunities for UK-based cyber security companies and practitioners are enormous and this UK-Japan Memorandum of Cooperation, which is “centred around collaboration across the public and private sector”, is the logical next step to encourage trade in cyber products and services moving forward”.
Here at UKC3, we believe it is key to pave the way for a secure digital future for all. UKC3 works with our cluster organisations in different ways connecting them with opportunities for best practice sharing, learning together, networking and collaborating on projects across the UK. This development not only benefits larger-scale operations, but smaller ones as well giving more opportunities to those in the sector. Further, we are proud to say that Cyber Wales, one of our founding clusters, has played an active role in furthering the UK-Japanese partnership.
Ben Shorrock, UKC3 Director and Ecosystem Development Lead, goes on to say “This Memorandum marks a pivotal moment in UK-Japan relations, solidifying our commitment to combating global cyber threats together. It’s more than a defence strategy; it’s a gateway to innovative trade and technology advancements, driving forward our collective cyber security leadership.”
For the official article by the cabinet office on the Memorandum of Cooperation between the UK and Japan, access it here.
