Strengthening Cyber Risk Management
ACCJ member Ted Sato shares how his new cybersecurity book, written in collaboration with Keidanren, came about and discusses the issues it addresses.
Keidanren collaboration delivers book with practical advice to corporate leaders
As concern about cyber risk grows in Japan, a new book by veteran American Chamber of Commerce in Japan member and Marsh Japan, Inc. Senior Vice President Ted Sato aims to help corporate management find the most effective approach to mitigating risk and effectively responding to events.
Sato authored the book with Toshinori Kajiura, a member of Keidanren (the Japan Business Federation) and a senior researcher for information and communications technology policy at Hitachi. Kajiura was previously chair of Keidanren’s Working Group on Cybersecurity Enhancement.
🔼 Watch the video above for more insights from Sato himself.
Published in February by the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, a Japanese industry newspaper, Strengthening Cyber Risk Management: A Keidanren Handbook to Cyber Risk Management is designed to provide corporate managers with practical guidance for dealing with cyber risk.
Not to be confused with cybersecurity, cyber risk is defined by the US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology as the “risk of financial loss, operational disruption, or damage from the failure of the digital technologies employed for informational and/or operational functions introduced to a manufacturing system via electronic means from the unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction of the manufacturing system.”
Sato told The ACCJ Journal that the book, which spans more than 200 pages, was written by professionals from the battlefield in easy-to-understand language. “We wanted corporate managers to be able to ask effective questions at the earliest stages of any cyber risk event. That is very important.”
“We wanted corporate managers to be able to ask effective questions at the earliest stages of any cyber risk event. That is very important.”
The idea came after a series of events last May which Sato conceived with Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun. The well-received sessions showed corporate managers how to deal with cyber risk, not solely as a technical issue but to emphasize management and factors related to organizational culture.
Keidanren had been hosting its own events since 2014, working to change the mind-set of corporate management on this critical issue. The organization built on Sato’s efforts to bring together professionals with similar motivation to create the Cyber Risk Management Japan Study Group, which was a supporting contributor to the book.
These efforts were also supported by the late Hiroaki Nakanishi, who was chair of Hitachi and Keidanren and contributed the foreword.
The book’s core advice draws on a 2014 report by the Internet Security Alliance and the National Association of Corporate Directors’ handbook on cyber risk, which recommends a one-team approach to corporate management. Beginning with the importance of expert advice from outside the company, the book advises an “art of science” approach that balances technology, human factor management, and operational excellence to ensure an organization’s readiness, response and recovery, and recurrence prevention.
The book has been well received by reviewers for its practical guidance.
“It is very meaningful to promote cooperation with experienced US firms at this early stage for Japanese companies,” Sato said. “If all goes well, next we plan to make an English version to share in Asia.”
Welcome to a New Year
This is an important year ahead of us. Not only do we welcome a new ambassador but, as our new administrations on both sides of the Pacific get to work together, there are new, exciting, and dynamic opportunities for all of us engaged in commerce between this important alliance of the US and Japan.
ACCJ President Om Prakash looks forward to a productive 2022
Click on image to watch the video
Hello, I'm Om Prakash, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan. Happy New Year! You're in the most influential, largest international business community in Japan. You are adding your voice to over 600 companies, 3,000 members, and together we make a difference in possibilities for us in Japan.
This is an important year ahead of us. Not only do we welcome a new ambassador but, as our new administrations on both sides of the Pacific get to work together, there are new, exciting, and dynamic opportunities for all of us engaged in commerce between this important alliance of the US and Japan. We're here at the center of global tectonic changes in economies and security, and it's going to be an exciting year for us.
I'm also looking forward to getting out there and seeing you in person, and having in person events, as soon as it's safe to do so. I'm looking forward to the networking, the friendship, the opportunities that these events bring, and the strength that brings to our community.
I do have one ask of you. Get out there, get involved, join a committee, come out to networking events, get to know people. You're going to see you're going to get out of this as much as you put in—hopefully more. We are very active and have over 60 committees. I encourage you to take part in networking and contributing to our task force, to making friends, to making business connections, and making a difference for all of us.
I'm looking forward to working with you and figuring out how we can take these opportunities and maximize the advantage for all of us in business. I want to thank you for your continued support and commitment. See you soon!
President to President
Jenifer Rogers and Om Prakash share why ACCJ leadership matters
As the world transitions to a third year of the coronavirus pandemic, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) undergoes a transition of its own as outgoing President Jenifer Rogers passes the baton to incoming President Om Prakash. A newly elected Board of Governors also takes office for 2022, ready to lead the ACCJ through challenging, but exciting, times for global business in Japan.
Rogers, who is general counsel Asia for Asurion Japan Holdings G.K., and Prakash, chief executive of Northrop Grumman Japan, sat down on the day of the new board induction to talk to The ACCJ Journal about the progress the chamber made in 2021, the possibilities for 2022, and why they both are proud to volunteer their time and leadership.
Prakash: Serving has been my professional life almost in its entirety. I served in the Air Force for over 26 years. I started out mainly as a pilot and a test pilot, but [spent] a lot of time in the Pentagon working on issues for our nation, including industrial policy and working with Congress.
After that, I joined Northrop Grumman, and I’ve been with Northrop Grumman for seven years, three of them here in Japan. I’m super excited to put all that background together and work with all of you and the ACCJ to bring great things for US business, US commerce, and the US–Japan alliance.
Rogers: I’ve been very impressed since I met Om two years ago. I think he has an esprit de corps, and he is such a person with integrity. He reached out to me in the last election to meet up and we’ve had a dialogue over the last two years. I think he is straightforward, a team player, incredibly passionate about improving the US–Japan relationship, and doing the best he can for the chamber. I personally am very excited that he’s been elected to this position.
Prakash: I do absolutely enjoy working with people. I get a lot of energy from hearing other people’s ideas and thinking about it. I’m not afraid to change my mind—so I don’t know if that’ll be sometimes something difficult to work with—but, hopefully, as a group, we’ll all come to good decisions. I like being inclusive and absolutely picking up diverse opinions.
I’m anxious to also get things done. I like to get my hands dirty when necessary, and also see others succeed and be given opportunities. I think the chamber is going to be incredibly fun to work in because, after all, we’re all volunteering our time. We’re putting into it because we believe in something we’re doing. We have passion. Those are interesting things to work with, and around, because we’re not all going to always agree on things. But we’ll certainly be passionate about it, so it’ll be fun.
Rogers: I know from your speech that you have great things to offer. And as the outgoing president, I feel very excited to leave the chamber this year in your very capable hands.
Prakash: Well, thank you. And, also, I can’t thank you enough. I’ve known you for going on two years now, and I was actually really happy you’re the president that I’m coming up behind, because I know you’ve left the chamber in great shape and you’ve done great things with it. I’m truly impressed and thankful for what you’ve done, because you’re certainly going to make it easier for all of us on the next board.
Rogers: Thank you very much. That’s really nice to hear. I feel great that we’ve done a lot of what we set out to do, but I think what’s really nice is that there’s so much more to do. It’ll be exciting to see the chamber continue to succeed under your leadership.
Twenty twenty-one was such an unusual year with the pandemic. We went in thinking we were maybe seeing the end of it. So, we had to really pivot and focus a lot more on pandemic-related advocacy issues: reentry, entry restrictions, vaccines.
What was really nice to see is how our members really communicated their concerns. We rallied to provide vaccine support, get out there into the media, and push the Japanese government to really pursue a more open travel policy and science-based approach to vaccines so we could truly enhance our members’ experience. In a very unique environment—and even though we were virtual—that kind of pandemic situation brought us together.
Also, because of that, I really wanted to leave a legacy around great corporate governance. We established the governance task force, and, really, I wanted to make sure that the chamber was sustainable and a role model in the community. With the constitutional amendments, and a lot of the changes we made within the chamber—including some of the good practices around the induction ceremony today for the Board of Governors—I really feel very proud that we’ve made good strides in being the role model we should be as an organization representing our members in the business community here.
Prakash: I’m just so impressed with all the things that you were able to do in 2021, considering that a really key person—an ambassador, which is so critical for the ACCJ—was absent from the US government side. I’m looking forward to having that person on board quickly in 2022 to really bring new dimensions to what we can do for our members and the US–Japan relationship.
The points you brought up about how none of us expected the pandemic to last this long—how you embraced it and now have made for all our members something that we’re not expecting to ever to go back [from]—it’ll just be continuing evolution of an ongoing situation. I think that’s something that we need to take forward on the new board as One ACCJ, [looking at] all the points that we’ve learned and continuing to learn as the situation evolves.
Rogers: I think we did manage to do some great advocacy around digitalization, sustainability, and even the US–Japan economic partnership in certain ways. But absolutely, I think you’re well positioned with your background. And also, with the new US ambassador and the changes in the government that have taken place under Kishida-san this year as prime minister, I think the chamber is well positioned to make a huge difference. I will be happy to support, but also very excited to see what you’ll be doing in that space next year.
Prakash: Well, all of us will be doing.
Rogers: That’s right.