The tech giant will also help boost cybersecurity at 300,000 small to mid-sized businesses, non-profits and other social organisations in the region, said Google’s Kazuya Okubo.
Google had warned in October that the region “is the target of more cyberattacks than any other”.
Governments, including Japan, have echoed those concerns.
In addition to large-scale fraud and ransomware activity by criminal groups, the United States and its allies in the region including Australia have blamed China and Beijing-linked groups for cyberattacks.
In September last year, Japan’s 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.
Washington has alleged that China represents “the broadest, most active, and persistent cyber espionage threat” to its government and private sector.
Beijing, for its part, accuses the United States of being the “world’s biggest hacking empire”, citing its well-documented forays into cyberwarfare, online surveillance and hacking.
