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Local Japanese Government Tightens File Security…
Government | Customer Stories
Local Japanese Government Tightens File Security with OPSWAT Technology
To meet heightened government file-security requirements, Japan’s Fuji City found OPSWAT’s MetaDefender Core to be a valid solution.
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About Company: Fuji City is located on the eastern side of Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan. The city features stunning views of Mt. Fuji which is highest in Japan to the north, with Suruga Bay, which is deepest in Japan stretching out before it to the south. Fuji River, one of the three fastest flowing rivers in Japan lies to the west. The local government has built much of the city’s infrastructure and Fuji City has various prevention plan in Japan for the way local governments are enhancing security to prevent various cyberattacks.
What's the story? Following information leaks at their Pension Service, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications issued Guidelines for Information Security Policies in Local Governments, advocating a three-layered network separation approach to local governments. This approach included segregating the network into distinct layers for office work involving personal information numbers, Internet connection, and daily operations (LGWAN). To ensure compliance, all email attachments were required to undergo sanitization to facilitate this network separation effectively. For six years, the Fuji City government relied on an alternative file sanitization solution that didn’t quite meet performance expectations.
After reviewing several vendors, Fuji City selected OPSWAT MetaDefender Core with Deep CDR (Content Disarm and Reconstruction) and Multiscanning technologies. This solution protects against known and unknown file-borne threats. Deep CDR can also handle more than 150 common file types and it supports the Japanese language (2-byte characters).
When Japan’s Pension Service experienced unauthorized access, leaking millions of personal data files, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications issued security guidelines to local governments recommending the implementation of a three-layered network-separation approach to bolster file security.
In fiscal year 2017, a system equipped with basic sanitization technology was proposed for this purpose and adopted by the local Fuji City government to meet the new national requirements. However, the solution fell short of expectations— it had issues handling Japanese language characters and required a tedious login process for users.
Three layered network separation
As Mr. Kouji Daicho, Senior Manager of the Information System Section, Digital Promotion Office, Fuji City, explained, “In FY2017, we introduced a system equipped with a certain sanitization engine. However, because the system was made overseas, it did not support Japanese. Characters and the character encoding were insufficient, and there were usage restrictions, resulting in various problems like garbled characters. In addition, the client had to log in to the system with an ID and password which was a time-consuming and cumbersome process for the company.”
The previous solution also negatively impacted efficiency as the file format was difficult to download and non-compliant files could not be sanitized. This required them to be imported and checked separately, which also placed a burden on employees.
Fuji City needed a simple-to-operate security solution that would:
Maintain compliance with the new government security regulations by Internal Affairs and Communication in place
Ensure the safe download of files
Provide all Japanese language support for the sanitization engine
Support a wide range of file formats
Improve operational efficiency
Easily integrate with their existing infrastructure
After a thorough proof-of-concept assessment, OPSWAT MetaDefender Core stood out for its exceptional performance in speed, usability, and efficacy. Its unified system interface greatly simplified log investigations, ensuring the safe download of files, and offered numerous operational management benefits for Fuji City, leading to its selection.
The deciding factor in our decision to use OPSWAT was the fact that they [OPSWAT] proposed a convenient system for our users ... and the selection committee members decided that it was the best choice for this procurement.
Kouji Daicho
Senior Manager of the Information System Section,Digital Promotion Office, Fuji City
Mr. Kotaro Kato, Manager of the Information Systems Section at Fuji City, added that during the transition period, staff members were using both the old and new systems and he added supported to prevent file capture omissions.
There are a variety of sanitization tools that have been released, but OPSWAT not only supports a full range of files, but also allows us to see what is being done internally, and the sanitization feels highly effective...
Kotaro Kato
Manager of the Information Systems Section, Digital Promotion Office, Fuji City
Bringing Value with A Total Security Solution
MetaDefender Core has provided great value to Fuji City by fulfilling many requirements, which were lacking in their previous security solution.
OPSWAT's Deep CDR technology supports more than 150 file formats and files can be successfully sanitized and imported by high-performance scanning engines during the sanitization process. The Japanese language is also processed properly so the information delivered is clear without any jumbled characters.
How Deep CDR™ Works
As Mr. Kato, explained, “After hearing the proposal, we investigated and found that OPSWAT's sanitization [Deep CDR] supports previously unusable characters, so there is no fear of character corruption, and it can sanitize a wide range of file formats.
“Furthermore, the interface part of the mail sanitization/file exchange system also supports Windows integrated authentication, which in essence enables single sign-on (SSO) to the system by simply logging into Windows, eliminating the need to enter IDs and passwords.”
We asked for proposals from other companies and made comparisons before making our actual selection. OPSWAT’s was far superior compared to the sanitization engines proposed by other companies.
Kouji Daicho
Senior Manager of the Information System Section, Digital Promotion Office, Fuji City
Advanced Threat Protection with Deep CDR
Cyberthreats today are evolving constantly and being built to evade traditional signature-based and behavior-based anti-malware defenses. Recent attacks on enterprises and critical infrastructure in Japan have only served to underscore the point that IT and OT infrastructures need advanced multi-layer threat prevention to prevent zero-day attacks, advanced persistent threats, and highly evasive malware.
MetaDefender Core allows users to detect, analyze, and eliminate malware and zero-day attacks with amazingly high detection rates:
Deep CDR technology regenerates safe, usable files and supports hundreds of file types, including PDFs, archives, and file formats that support archives.
Quickly scan all files with the top 30+ antivirus engines and detect over 99% of known malware.
Uncover vulnerabilities in installers, binaries, or applications before they are installed and plug any security holes.
Detect zero-day malware and more indicators of compromise with adaptive threat analysis technology.
Remove, redact, or watermark sensitive data in files before it enters or leaves the network.
Identify file origins and manage access to restricted locations and vendors instantly for regulatory compliance and data protection.
A Better Solution That’s Easy to Use
With MetaDefender Core deployed, Fuji City’s network is now secured and in compliance with the Japanese government’s three-tier-security requirements by Internal Affairs and Communication. Efficiency at Fuji City has greatly improved, and the frustrations employees experienced with the old system are now a thing of the past.
“I think the staff is happy,” Mr. Kato concluded, “because the increased number of supported file formats has reduced the time and effort required for sanitization.
Also, in the old system, when the number of users increased, we had to register users with the sanitization system. [Now] the new system is linked to Active Directory, so that eliminates the need for such registration, which is also a nice benefit for the administrators.”
To see how OPSWAT’s innovative solutions can keep your critical infrastructure secure, talk to an expert today.
