Strengthen security measures to respond to the recent increase in threats

Since its founding in 1948, Nissan Securities has adhered to the management policies of "customer first" and "community-based". To this end, the company has expanded its business through M&A and supplemented the region. Currently, we handle a wide variety of derivative products, from financial products such as stocks and investment trusts to commodity futures trading, FX trading, CFD trading, etc. We also support not only face-to-face trading, but also Internet trading and call center trading, etc., and we are improving our service environment. It is in good condition.

The company, which handles such a wide range of products, needs to establish a system that allows customers to trade without anxiety as a financial business operator, and has been promoting various security measures.

Specifically, the network of terminals used by employees to make various inquiries and place orders for securities customers is completely separate from the Internet. When browsing stock price information or using the web or e-mail, the risk of information leakage is reduced by using a separate terminal connected to the Internet. In addition, for these terminals connected to the Internet, measures such as the introduction of anti-virus software, operation restrictions, and operation log acquisition have been taken.

However, recent cyberattacks are becoming more and more sophisticated and complex, and given the growing threat, these countermeasures are no longer sufficient. Satoshi Hayakawa, Executive Officer and General Manager of the Information Systems Department, said, "the Company are actively promoting the use of various cloud services, so we cannot stop the Internet connection of the terminal. Therefore, we need to implement security measures without sacrificing convenience. We decided to look into measures to strengthen it."

It is also highly evaluated for its ability to be installed quickly and easily using the same environment/browser as before.

Nissan Securities decided to review the entire environment of terminals connected to the Internet. Consideration started in 2016 on the premise of taking the best possible measures at this time. In March, the following three policies were established.

1. Migrate Internet connections to a whitelist method, allowing Internet connections to specific secure websites on a whitelist
2. Introduced a behavioral detection email security service
3. Internet connection to unspecified websites deploys an Internet isolation solution (virtual web browser)

Although the company proceeded with the examination based on these three policies, it was difficult to select a product for the introduction of the Internet separation solution (3). Other companies' products that we were considering had issues such as the need for login and other authentication before connecting to the virtual environment and browsing, and the browsers that could be used were limited. In particular, browser restrictions are troublesome, and the company uses multiple browsers when using various cloud services, and if these cannot be used, business cannot proceed.

Meanwhile, in November 2016, the company received an introduction to the separation/disarming solution "Menlo Security". This feature of the service was exactly what the company was looking for. “Unlike other companies’ products that we had considered up until then, Menlo Security allows us to use the same environment and browser as before. We thought that with this, we would be able to create a secure web browsing environment without affecting usability. We also appreciated the fact that it was a cloud service, so we could implement it quickly and easily." (Mr. Hayakawa)

The company started POC (Proof of concept / evaluation) from January 2017 and decided to introduce Menlo Security.

Realizes a completely safe web browsing environment Significantly reduces the burden of operation management

When introducing Menlo Security, set a certificate and proxy for each terminal. These tasks were completed in one month, and company-wide use began in March 2017. Such a sense of speed is a big advantage unique to cloud services.

The company uses Menlo Security in a multistage proxy configuration. Among the terminals that can connect to the Internet, users who have a limited number of times of browsing per day and browsing destinations use virtual web browsers of other companies, and users who need to browse unspecified websites for work use Menlo. I am using Security.
“For the virtual web browser, we have secured 80 concurrent user licenses and used it separately from our main Menlo Security. Previously, we repeatedly warned our employees against threats to web browsing, and in addition to applying security patches to browsers, Flash and There was also the burden of security updates for add-ons such as Acrobat Reader, but now that all sites have been isolated and sanitized by the introduction of Menlo Security, and a completely safe web browsing environment has been realized, We no longer have to worry about security threats, and we are now able to implement security measures systematically.” (Mr. Hayakawa)

More than three months have passed since the service actually went into operation, but there have been almost no complaints such as "websites cannot be browsed" or "responses are slow." Mr. Takuya Matsumoto, section manager of the information system department, said, "At the beginning of the introduction, there were problems such as some cloud services not working, but they were quickly resolved, and now there are no such problems. Because it is a cloud service. We don't have to take care of the system anymore, and employees no longer have to make inquiries about being caught by fake security software, so the burden of operation management has been greatly reduced."

Other reasons for choosing the product include the ability to restrict or render harmless uploads and downloads of files on websites, and the ability to control communication with applications other than browsers.

Respond to the unique circumstances of a financial business Always keep the system environment up-to-date

Nissan Securities believes that the company's Web browsing environment security measures have reached their best state at this time. But there is no end to security measures. In addition, there are circumstances unique to financial business operators, such as regular review of standards and response to audits by the competent ministries.
“We are using Menlo Security’s reporting function to understand and analyze the status of browsers and sites visited.In the future, we would like to further consider how to keep the system environment up-to-date, from the OS to applications. (Mr. Hayakawa)

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