The central government is considering a new law for the introduction of an "active cyberdefense" system to take pre-emptive measures against major cyberattacks, sources have said.
The government plans to submit a bill for the law during an extraordinary parliamentary session this autumn, the sources said Friday.
The envisaged law will make it possible to collect online communications data from telecommunications companies and use the data to detect signs of cyberattacks.
"We will develop a legal system to realize new initiatives in the field of cybersecurity," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a news conference the same day.
The new law is expected to set certain conditions to make it consistent with the secrecy of communications guaranteed by the Constitution. To protect personal information, the content of emails will not be subject to data collection.
The government initially considered revising existing laws to introduce an active cyberdefense system, but has found that law revisions would not be enough, the sources said.