Japan Retail Sector "Cybersecurity and consumer society: Insights from A..."

Research evidence excerpt

Japan Retail Sector "Cybersecurity and consumer society: Insights from A..."

Global Research

17 June 2026ab

Japan Retail Sector Equities

JapanCybersecurity and consumer society: Insights

from AIC Retail

Takahiro Kazahaya

Analyst

takahiro.kazahaya@ubs.com

Summary +81-3-5208 6226

Ransomware attacks and the rapid evolution of quantum computing and AI have led to Kazuki Oike

heightened interest in cybersecurity within the retail sector. This report summarises the Associate Analyst

impact of cybersecurity on consumer society in the quantum computing era, which is kazuki.oike@ubs.com

becoming increasingly important, along with insights from the panel discussion held at +81-3-5208 6964

the AIC (Asia Investment Conference) hosted by UBS in May 2026.

Cybersecurity and consumer society

The importance of cybersecurity in consumer society is increasing as the digital society

progresses. One significant change driven by the advancement of digitalisation in

consumer society is the widespread adoption of digital currencies, including e-money

and QR payments. In Japan, the adoption of digital currencies has lagged behind the US

and China, but the penetration rate is rising. Consequently, the growing digitalisation of

payments between companies and between companies and individuals is leading to the

heightened importance of cybersecurity.

Risks in the era of AI and quantum computing

The rapid evolution of quantum computing and AI is increasingly posing a threat to

cybersecurity, which is essential for payment systems in a digitised consumer society. The

financial systems supporting payments currently rely on perimeter defence models.

Advances in quantum computing technology have the potential to render RSA/ECC

encryption, which is commonly used for communication protection in payments,