Deciding the outcome: Rapidly transferring various strategic data to Germany

Cato Networks participates as an official SASE sponsor of the Tag Heuer-Porsche team in Formula-E, an electric vehicle race held around the world. This year, the Tokyo E-Prix was held in Ariake, Tokyo, attracting attention as a domestic public road race.

Photo: Cato Networks Event Opening

Photo: Video message from Shlomo Kramer, founder and CEO of Cato Networks.

Before the start of the race, a briefing session and networking event was held at Porsche Studio Ginza by Cato Networks and Porsche, where participants were able to deepen their understanding of the industry's cutting-edge technology. The event began with a video message from Shlomo Kramer, founder and CEO of Cato Networks.

Cato Networks Launches AI Service Management Dashboard

Welcome Session
Speaker: Vitaly Simonovich, Threat Intelligence Researcher, Cato Networks

Photo: Vitaly​

Photo: About Cato CTRL​

Vitaly Simonovich, a security researcher at Cato Networks' Cyber Threat Research Lab, has presented his latest AI research findings. He regularly publishes the latest cybersecurity research findings through research in his research division, known as Cato CTRL.

2025 Report

1. Countermeasures against Shadow AI

First, regarding the usage of AI applications, Cato Networks released a traffic ranking by industry based on its global backbone. The use of ChatGPT has been a hot topic, and it was revealed that AI that summarizes PDFs is particularly prevalent in the manufacturing sector. Furthermore, in domestic cases, the largest volume of traffic was from AI services for programmers, indicating that corporate users are using a wide range of AI services. It is therefore necessary to check traffic from AI applications other than ChatGPT to ensure that confidential company information or PDF documents are not being posted to AI services, and that confidential source code is not being sent.

Photo: Top 10 AI applications accessed globally in 2024 and industry sectors

Photo: Top 10 AI applications in Japan in 2024

Vitaly gave a concrete example of this situation.

• A major Korean manufacturing company sent confidential source code to ChatGPT
• A US entertainment company downloaded an image editing AI tool and was unknowingly infected with malware, resulting in the theft of their credentials.
• An example of a new AI service from China that has been banned by multiple companies

Based on these examples, the following were listed as the main threats to AI applications:

• Data exfiltration and information leakage
• Intellectual Property (IP) Concerns
• Compliance and Violations
• Data privacy violations
• Security vulnerabilities
• Lack of auditability

Photo: Threats to AI applications

To address these issues, Cato Networks introduced a new feature, the AI Service Dashboard for CASB (Cloud Access Service Broker), provided within Cato SASE. Cato Cloud already has over 1,000 AI applications registered, enabling visibility into what AI applications employees are using and enabling system administrators to control access via CASB. Cato Cloud administrators will be able to quickly manage and control the growing number of AI services available.

Photo: Cato Cloud　CASB 's new AI service management dashboard

As the AI boom continues and various AI technologies emerge, IT departments must organize their workloads so that employees can use AI with confidence. Cato Networks SASE can help with this.

2. LLM Jailbreak

Furthermore, surprising experimental results using AI were announced, specifically, a case in which AI was successfully used to create malware without any security expertise.

For this experiment, we created three fictitious people and constructed a fictitious scenario around them, which led to the creation of malware called an "infostealer" designed to steal passwords stored in Google Chrome.

Photo: Characters from the Immersive World for LLM Prison Break

On a dummy website called bank.com, set up as a test environment, Chrome credentials were analyzed and displayed using an AI-generated program.

This experiment shows just some of the impact that AI technology will have on the field of cybersecurity, and highlights the importance of ethical and safe operation in the future use of AI. Further details are also provided in the Cato CTRL 2025 report.

Why Porsche is racing electric cars

Guest Session
Bernd Simmendinger
Porsche Motorsport – Leiter / Manager Business Relations

Photo: Bernd Simmendinger​

In the next session, Bernd, Porsche's business relations manager, came to Japan from Germany and gave us the opportunity to answer a number of questions and exchange opinions.

He explained why he is taking part in electric car racing as part of his car development. He said that the research center at Porsche headquarters is very interested in this electric car racing, which focuses on product development, and that he is working under their direction. Porsche is currently ranked number one in the world and aims to maintain its top position from last season.

Bernd, who has 25 years of motorsport experience and has been involved in 24-hour endurance races and GT races, feels that Formula E is a special race. He mentioned that Porsche employs top partners in the industry, including Cato Networks. He highly values the data transfer expertise provided by Cato Cloud, emphasizing that data transfer is an extremely important element and a lifeline in Formula E.

Photo: Formula E simulator

According to Bernd, high-speed, secure, and reliable data transfer is essential for the race, and a support system is in place at the German headquarters, with data being sent and received between Germany and Tokyo during the race. Motorsport is an excellent platform for research and development, and Formula E is a major strength in the development of electric vehicles.

Based on the actual driving information of the two drivers, the optimum settings and instructions must be made quickly according to the situation, so a Cato socket is installed in the paddock and the in-car data is sent to Germany. Battery energy management is particularly important in the data analysis, and adjustments are apparently made daily. The data sent from Japan is very important, and the optimum vehicle settings are made based on it. (Because it is a public road race, white lines and the like are still drawn, but these are apparently slippery.)

Once the race has started, the drivers must be able to access the information they need at all times. After the race is over, the drivers themselves will also be able to check charging data. For this reason, it is essential to have a partner that enables reliable data transfer, and he said he is very pleased to have found such an excellent partner as Cato Networks.

He expressed his enthusiasm to maintain the success of last season and demonstrate his results in Tokyo, the mid-season finale, and plans to continue racing around the world, aiming to be number one as a driver and as a team. He also hopes to continue receiving support from Cato Cloud.
Finally, Bernd, who supports Formula E, apparently drives an electric car on weekdays and a gasoline car on weekends in his private life.
In the future, Porsche will produce a variety of cars, including the Taycan and Macan EV.
He concluded by saying that he would also like to think about how to make better electric vehicles.

Photo: Two of the speakers

Race in the rain, qualifying canceled, and the race suspended in an unpredictable situation

This year's Tokyo E-Prix began in heavy wind and rain, and the team faced unpredictable circumstances, with qualifying being canceled. The race took place over two days, with the harsh conditions continuing from the first day. I myself was prepared to get soaked, having equipped myself with a raincoat, waterproof trousers, and waterproof bag. Cato Networks also showed their consideration for the participants by distributing portable raincoats in addition to the team hats.

The actual car was on display at the Porsche Ginza studio, and its lightweight carbon fiber body was impressive. Last year, the car's color was a shocking pink, evoking spring cherry blossoms, to coincide with the event, but this year it has been changed to purple, which is Macnica 's color. When I asked Bernd after his presentation, he told me that this color is the new color for the 2026 model of Porsche's electric vehicle, the Taycan Turbo GT. The "Sky Purple Metallic" and "Shade Green Metallic" colors were also chosen as communication colors for the Macan EV, and are colors that are reminiscent of electric sports cars that link technology from Formula E to production vehicles. The Taycan actually features "Attack Mode," a feature of Formula E.

This year's car specifications are GEN3EVO, and the adoption of four-wheel drive has increased speed. This is a major improvement from last year. The four-wheel drive is only available at certain times, and valuable driving data will be newly acquired and transmitted to the headquarters in Germany. It is clear that Porsche's race strategy has evolved even further this year, and expectations are high for future developments.

Photo: 2025​ ​GEN3EVO

Photo: Even more impressive with the splash of water

The Cato Networks support team also donned purple hats to liven up the race. Luckily, a light rain started to fall just before the start of the race, allowing the spectators to enjoy the sight of the cars racing by, splashing water and accompanied by the sound of electricity. It is said that in rainy races, the visibility of cars further back is reduced by the spray of water.

The qualifying race scheduled for the morning was canceled due to strong winds and heavy rain, and the starting positions were determined based on the results of the test run, leaving the competitors in a tight race for the positions. When I asked Bernd about this, he told me that the test run data had already been transferred to Germany via Cato Cloud before qualifying, and that driving in the rain had been almost completely replicated using a dedicated simulator. This data, along with the actual data sent, was fed back to the machine, allowing a meticulous strategy to be formulated for the rain.

Photos: Evans, DaCosta, and Rowland

The first day's race was stopped once and restarted under the safety car, and the rain caused cars to slip on the road, creating a rough but exciting race. Maserati won that day, and on the second day, Nissan's Roland, carrying the hopes of the host country, achieved his long-awaited victory, drawing thunderous cheers from the crowd. The TAG Heuer-Porsche team put up a good fight, taking second and third places.

Photo: Race schedules for various locations

Cato Cloud allows you to smoothly build a secure digital environment anywhere

As fierce competition continues around the world, the Porsche team and Cato Networks will continue to work together to achieve even greater success.

As digital transformation (DX) progresses in the modern sports world, the role of data analysis and rapid data transfer is becoming increasingly important. Cato Cloud, provided by Cato Networks, is an innovative solution that meets these demands and is demonstrating its capabilities.

The Cato Socket X1600LTE enables the creation of a SASE environment using cellular networks, enabling connectivity beyond geographical limitations. There are also cases where satellite networks have been used, enabling stable communications even in remote locations or areas without WAN connections. Sports teams and officials can securely collect and analyze the data they need, anywhere in the world, enabling them to develop competitive strategies in real time.

Furthermore, the zero-trust network environment provided by Cato Cloud guarantees secure access, providing peace of mind when handling important digital information. This technology will likely become essential not only in the sports world but in many other fields as well.

Macnica

Fujio Suzuki

In 1989, he was in charge of US fiber optic products. He then worked as a Macnica webmaster in the information systems department, building and managing websites. He has been in cloud service sales since 2005, and in 2010 he was in charge of CSIRT awareness as a Splunk product manager. He has been in charge of Cato Networks product marketing since 2019. He is certified as a SASE Expert Level 2 and SSE Expert. He spends his weekends enjoying marine sports and living an analog lifestyle.