JAPAN’S Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry is planning a major push to bolster cybersecurity in hospitals, in response to a rising tide of cyberattacks on medical institutions. The plan, reported by The Yomiuri Shimbun and highlighted by The Japan News, includes a budget request of ¥13.7 billion for fiscal 2027 to strengthen network protections and expand the cadre of cybersecurity specialists within the health sector.
The measures form part of Japan’s broader investment framework aimed at making the country “stronger and more prosperous” under the current administration.
A key challenge identified is the fragmented IT environment in medical facilities, where many devices and systems come from different vendors, creating numerous external connections that are difficult to monitor and secure. To address this, the ministry intends to provide subsidies to hospitals that consolidate their external connection points. The goal is to simplify monitoring and enable faster isolation of systems in the event of an attack, reducing exposure and improving resilience across the health sector.
The announcement signals concrete funding and policy levers to streamline security across healthcare networks, though details on implementation timelines or eligibility criteria are not provided in the summary report.