Theme: IoST (Internet of Secure Things) Technology
Information security initiatives aimed at helping society use the IoT safely and reliably
The “Internet of Things” (IoT) is a world in which many things have built-in sensors and connect directly to the Internet so that they can collect and exchange information. As use of the IoT becomes more widespread, it is becoming increasingly likely that life and business styles are about to change. Along with hopes for a more comfortable future comes increasing risk of global-scale cyber attacks. With cyber attacks becoming more organized and more sophisticated, corporations and public entities have been hit by shutdowns of their information systems, information theft, and other problems arising from security breaches.
That is why DNP has set to work in this type of environment to solve social problems related to information security; we aim to make the "Things" of the IoT "secure," i.e. to make it an “Internet of Secure Things" (IoST®).
Improving device security by using technologies that we cultivated in our smart card business
Cryptographic protocols like SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) have been used for years to encrypt data in Internet Technologies as a security measure for e-commerce and other online services. However, we do not yet have adequate security measures for handling data exchanged with IoT devices.
DNP is working to address this problem and improve the security of IoT devices by embedding in them an IC chip that incorporates the same high level of security used for smart cards. Using this IC chip to safely store important data, such as electronic certificates, individual IDs used for personal authentication, and data encryption keys, guards against malicious outsiders seeking to tamper with or illicitly acquire data, or to impersonate a legitimate user.
DNP became one of the first in its industry to enter the smart card business in 1981, and it was through developing smart cards that DNP solves this problem. In addition to the counterfeiting prevention technologies that we had already developed in order to safely print and process stock certificates, cash vouchers, and other valuable certificates, we had to develop technologies for securely managing networked data as we have continued to lead the domestic smart card market from its inception: for example, we developed smart card operating systems and applications, we developed and operate card issuance processing systems, and we manage the online transmission of card-related data. We have applied the strengths we acquired through our smart card business to the construction of advanced personal authentication technologies for use in a wide variety of information platforms including SIM cards used in smartphones. Now we intend to extend our reach further, to the IoT.
DNP’s "IoST Platform"
In the future, the number of IoT devices is expected to increase sharply, climbing as high as 50 billion units worldwide by 2020 according to a forecast by Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group. With the advent of the “IoT society,” in which many of the devices that surround us in daily life will become contact points for information exchange, information security is becoming more important than ever.
In answer to this growing need for information security, we propose the creation of an “Internet of Secure Things” (IoST). Based on our concept that information security is vital to the IoT, DNP focuses on developing products and services for the secure version that we call the IoST.
By utilizing the information processing and security technologies that we cultivated through the development of smart cards, DNP’s “IoST Platform” will appropriately expand the scope of IoT applications while solidly protecting information pertaining to companies and private citizens. By providing the cyber security and device security measures required to safely and securely use IoT devices, we intend to support a society that can truly enjoy the convenience of the IoT.