Japan is facing a shortage of government internet security experts, and so is actively trying to create hackers to help.

Pressure to protect the Japanese government’s widespread IT systems have not been a huge focus so far, but now with integration throughout transport, finance and other key infrastructures – cybersecurity has moved to the top of the list.

A strategy has been created by a panel formed specifically to address the problem. Early findings say Japan needs about 80,000 extra information security engineers than it currently has, while more than 160,000 of the 265,000 already involved in the service need further education.

Japan’s new long-term strategy calls for upgrading specialised education at universities and other institutions, as well as reviewing the qualification system for security engineers. In addition to increasing the number, it is imperative to recruit “manpower with outstanding abilities,” the panel stressed.

In August this year an event was held aiming to introduce teenagers to the first steps on the path to becoming a cybersecurity mastermind. Forty-one high school and university students gathered at a training institute in the city of Chiba for a five-day “security camp” hosted by the Information-Technology Promotion Agency, or IPA, to learn from experts about computer viruses and cyberterrorism. The participants, picked from 250 applicants based on computer-related knowledge and skills, also engaged in a hacking competition.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has added a plan to its budget request for 2014 to establish a task force to hire a dozen young hackers every year and send them to companies suffering cyberattacks.

“Existing programs can by no means cover the shortage” of information security engineers, said Hidehiko Tanaka, president of the Institute of Information Security, a private graduate school.

“The government should spearhead efforts to nurture talented engineers and increase the jobs available for them... it is necessary to create more opportunities for such hackers to work and widen their appeal.”