Senior Japanese and U.S. defense officials agreed to boost cooperation to cope with cyber-attacks at their first working-group meeting on cyberdefense.

The Self-Defense Forces will send personnel to cooperate with the U.S. military to study and train against cyber-attacks. The United States will also provide Japan with relevant data.

The next meeting is scheduled to be held in the United States in summer.

The two countries held the working-group meeting because cyber-attacks against government and company computer systems have become a major security threat. They hope to improve the SDF’s capabilities for dealing with such attacks by establishing a stronger cooperation system.