TOKYO: US tech giant Google said Thursday it opened a new cyberdefense hub in Tokyo as the reg  ion faces growing digital security threats from China.

The new hub, christened the “Cybersecurity Center of Excellence,” aims to spearhead research and train tech talent to counter the threat of cyberattacks, Google said.

“We are officially launching the Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Japan, aiming to connect leading security specialists, researchers, and partners”, Google said in a statement to AFP.

The center will invite tech experts from countries including India, Australia and South Korea to jointly study measures against cyberattacks, the Nikkei business daily said, adding that it is Google’s first such hub in Asia.

The moves comes after Google warned in October that the Asia-Pacific faces “more cyberattacks than any other region”, attributing its vulnerability in part to “chronic talent shortage”.

Japanese authorities have also echoed the concerns.

In September, the National Police Agency joined its American counterparts, including the FBI, in warning of widespread malware attacks by China-linked cyber actors known as BlackTech.

BlackTech has “targeted government, industrial, technology, media, electronics, and telecommunication sectors, including entities that support the militaries of the US and Japan,” the NPA said in a joint statement.

With security threats on the rise, the new centre will “aim to enhance Japan’s cybersecurity infrastructure” by leveraging cutting-edge technologies and insightful collaborations, Junichiro Uchiyama, interim lead of the new centre, said in a statement.

Washington has warned that China represents “the broadest, most active, and persistent cyber espionage threat” to its government and private sector.

Beijing, for its part, accuses Washington of being the “world’s biggest hacking empire,” citing its well-documented forays into cyber warfare, online surveillance and hacking.

AFP