Japan Will Hack Their Citizens' Devices In Preparation For Olympics 2020

The government of Japan might want to become the most notable white-hat hacker in the world.

According to NHK World, from this February, Japan's NICT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) will carry out their plan on hacking Japanese citizens' internet-accessed devices including webcams, routers, and other IoT devices as well. This plan is a part of a 5-year endeavor to improve and strengthen the country's cybersecurity.

Japanese NICT got all the rights to hack the devices of Japanese citizens since November 2018, stating the need to boost the national cybersecurity while preparing for the Summer Olympics in Japan next year. Following the plan, they will try to hack about 200 million devices across the country.

Of course, this is nothing but a good intention for Japanese citizens. For users whose devices have been successfully hacked, they will be informed by NICT. Daisuke Inoue, a researcher at NICE, revealed to NHK World that the institute would protect all the information that they collect, including personal and private information like user's images on their webcams.

Obviously, nobody wants to be hacked, regardless of whether it's the Japanese authority or a huge number of citizens whose online devices will be put into test.

If the hacks are successful, Japanese citizens will need to be concerned with their private information. It is each individual's responsibility and benefits to strengthen their online security level by using 2-factor authentication and more secure passwords. This logic and the idea of the Japanese government, however, do raise a question: why NICT does not just warn the people to better safeguard their private information?

Anyway, in this scenario, it still depends on the citizens to boost up the security on their IoT devices. But it is still unclear why the privacy of them needs to be invaded just to get them to protect their private data.