Discussion on Financial System Vulnerabilities

- Good morning.

Good morning.

- Now, your opening remarks.

Yes, excuse me.

To begin with,

let me address the PHP

vulnerability response.

As for the situation at these financial institutions,

taking into account the warnings

issued by NCO and others,

many, many financial institutions

proactively suspended their systems

and took similar measures.

Since this April,

the Financial Services Agency has continually addressed AI threat

issues,

establishing a public-private council from April

onward.

Then, in May, when it became necessary to apply patches,

it was recognized that

proactively shutting down systems

was one possible option

from the outset,

and we determined what to do

in each situation,

enabling short-term measures

to be taken,

and we have also requested that

financial institutions do the same,

so that they could act

quickly,

and the results of those efforts

may have contributed

this time.

The response was relatively smooth.

Yesterday as well, batch processing was completed in the morning,

and

there were many places that were already accessible,

so

I think that had

some significance.

I believe it also served as

an early rehearsal.

That said,

with something that is so widely used,

there are circumstances in which

a reliable response

is necessary,

and these risks

are expected to increase

further in the future,

so we will coordinate with the relevant organizations

and encourage financial institutions to take

any further necessary measures.

That is what I intend

to do.

Incidentally, our

website was also restored

fairly early.

Quite a few members

of the Diet also

had issues with their IP addresses,

and their sites became inaccessible

once,

but I hear that almost all of them

have been restored.

Ours was restored as

- well. Yes.

Thank you.

Well then, the reporter from Digital Tsushin

has one

question to ask.

The government, regarding winter electricity and gas bills,

subsidies and gasoline,

subsidies for electricity and gas bills

and the continuation of gasoline subsidies,

is considering these measures,

it has been reported.

Including the funding sources,

including funding sources and the start date,

the current state of deliberations

I would appreciate hearing about.

Also, regarding gaso-

line subsidies, should they be continued,

about 170 yen per liter

the current subsidy system that keeps prices

at that level, what are your thoughts

on this matter

as well, may I ask

- you? Yes.

This was at the end of February,

in light of the Gulf crisis,

by the Prime Minister's decision, from early

March onward, we have been doing this,

and it has been very effective,

I believe

it has been very effective,

so this time as well, if the Prime Minister has some

policy or instructions,

I believe there presumably will be,

and I believe that

in that event,

responding to it

is only natural,

but as for that policy,

I do not believe a decision

has been made,

so I have nothing I can answer

here at this time,

but in any case, looking at the various

circumstances of people's lives,

so that no impact arises on

economic activity,

I believe various measures will be

put in place.

- Yes. Thank you very much.

Then, Nikkei Shimbun,

- please.

A reporter from Nikkei Shimbun.

I would like to ask about the budget

for supporting the content industry.

At yesterday's preliminary review meeting,

based on the failure of the Cool Japan Fund,

budget reform

policy directions were proposed.

As minister, from the perspective of

advancing a Japanese version of Dōshi,

when compiling the year-end budget,

how will you approach it?

- Please share your thoughts.

Well, throughout Japan, among people

with all kinds of opinions,

there is still the view that past

failures must be reflected upon,

that they must be learned from,

and that has become a completely shared

opinion.

But then, what should we do?

Of the 17 fields,

content is one of the extremely

important fields.

So, various proposals

are being put forward.

There are also proposals from each ministry,

and private-sector leaders came to meet

with us, so we must truly gather

our collective wisdom. As we have also

stated regarding investment in a strong and prosperous Japan,

as I mentioned,

such as the five Ws and one H,

or the fund

issue, for which I have also expressed

my reflections,

we must bring all of these together.

From the public's perspective,

it must be something

they can say, "This will do,"

- I believe.

- Thank you. Well, then.

- Thank you.

Our time is up, so we will conclude.