government will provide necessary support to ensure proper security at local governments while considering the separation of roles between national and local governments. - To ensure security measures are steadily implemented based on the “Guidelines for information security policy for local governments” (hereinafter referred to as the “Guideline”), we will support initiatives aimed at securing and training human resources, enhancing systems, and securing necessary budgets. - We will continue to update the Guideline and advance efforts to establish necessary systems to be able to flexibly respond to the demands of a new era, such as standardization of local government information systems, handling administrative procedures online, promotion of the cloud in line with the “cloud-by-default principle,” and introduction of remote work as part of workstyle reform and business continuity. - To promote digital transformation (realization of digital government) among local governments, the national government will establish a security policy for local governments in the maintenance policy, in light of the “Basic Policy on Reform toward the Realization of a Digital Society” (approved by the Cabinet in December 2020). - With regard to the Social Security and Tax Number System, which closely relate to people’s lives and personal information, we will enhance countermeasures considering the balance between convenience and security, and promote safe and secure use. 4. 2. 5 Promotion of efforts by stakeholders which underpin the socio-economic infrastructure (3) (Universities, education and research institutions, etc.) - Universities, inter-university research institutes, etc. (hereinafter referred to as the “universities, etc.”) consist of diverse members/organizations and own a wide range of information assets and systems. Given this situation, the national government’s active support for them to build collaborative and cooperative frameworks and information sharing is vital, along with their autonomously taking measures. - The national government will initiatively help universities, etc. to establish and prevalently comply with cybersecurity guidelines, conduct seminars, training, and exercises on risk management and incident response, appropriately respond to initial response in the event of an incident, and cooperate among universities, etc., such as information sharing. - With regard to the universities, etc. that possess cutting-edge technological information, the national government will comprehensively help them to enhance common security measures implemented through the entire organization as well as technological measures for protecting the technical information from advanced cyberattacks and effective measures against supply chain risks. 24