Digital Arts Expands into Incident Detection and Response
— Incident detection and guidance service D-Alert Reporting Service launched —

Information security solutions provider Digital Arts Inc. (headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan; CEO: Toshio Dogu; hereinafter referred to as "Digital Arts"; Code 2326) is pleased to announce that on December 1 it entered the field of incident detection and response with the launch of D-Alert Reporting Service, a incident detection service that also provides information on how to respond to the incident.

Specialized organizations that can detect and respond to security incidents are becoming ever more important, but due to resource constraints, they can be hard to establish.

In recent years, the number of cyberattacks has been increasing and their methods are becoming more sophisticated. Malware entry routes have also diversified including VPN vulnerabilities, remote desktops, web access, and emails. It is becoming increasingly difficult to completely defend against these intensifying attacks. And in order to minimize damage, organizations dedicated to incident detection and response, such as SOCs (Security Operation Centers) and CSIRTs (Computer Security Incident Response Teams), are becoming increasingly important. However, only 38.2% of the companies and organizations surveyed by Digital Arts have a dedicated organization for incident response*1. This suggests that many companies and organizations have difficulty in having these specialized organizations due to a lack of human or financial resources.

D-Alert, a cyber risk information provision service using the functions of i-FILTER and m-FILTER

Digital Arts offers i-FILTER, a web security product, and m-FILTER, an email security product, to protect against attacks from malware entry routes of the internet and email. i-FILTER features a database covering searchable URLs in Japan that blocks access to dangerous websites and unknown threats, creating a network in which only websites that Digital Arts has determined to be safe can be accessed. Meanwhile, m-FILTER has a database that collects combinations of IP addresses and domains of email senders ensuring that only safe emails are received.

By utilizing both, Digital Arts have created a system called whitelisting, which only allows access to websites and emails that we have deemed safe. Whitelisting protects the networks of 11 million *2users from known and unknown malware, and to date, we have received zero reports of infection*3.

D-Alert, which Digital Arts began offering in 2018, is a service that uses information on websites and emails collected through i-FILTER Ver. 10, m-FILTER Ver. 5, i-FILTER@Cloud, and m-FILTER@Cloud to notify customers of accessing dangerous websites and receiving dangerous emails. Depending on customers' settings, dangerous websites can still be accessed and dangerous emails be received. However, when this happens, Digital Arts will send a D-Alart email to the customer that includes the date and time of occurrence, the accessed URL or email information, and the steps to take.

D-Alert Report Service promptly detects incidents and provides information on how to respond

The conventional D-Alert could tell that a user had accessed a dangerous URL or received a dangerous email, but it did not know if an incident had occurred or even if an incident had occurred, which user was affected by it. Identifying the user by checking the IoC (Indicator of Compromise) and other data on the D-Alert page was left to the user.

The new D-Alert Reporting Service will provide customers using i-FILTER@Cloud with information on the detection of incidents and how specifically to respond to them. When a D-Alert occurs, Digital Arts' Security Research Lab*4 automatically examines the access logs of service subscribers on behalf of them, and notifies them of incidents on their network as a D-Alert Report including the affected users' names. It can be implemented at a lower cost than general incident detection and response solutions, which is another feature of this system.

Specifically, in addition to incident dates and times, accessed URLs, and other details that are contained in a conventional D-Alert notification, the D-Alert report contains detailed investigation results, including the number of affected users and their names, devices that attempted to access the URLs, access status (accessible or blocked), and processes (programs that communicated), and future steps to take such as malware scans and talking to affected users.

D-Alert Reporting Service will be available to m-FILTER@Cloud users next spring. As it is difficult for many companies and organizations to devote resources to incident detection and response, Digital Arts works to develop products and provide services to automate a wide variety of incident detection and responses.

D-Alert Reporting Service details

Requires: i-FILTER@Cloud (regular version)
On sale: December 1, 2022 (Thursday)
Price: 200 yen per license/month (excl. consumption tax)

■「i-FILTER@Cloud」
i-FILTER@Cloud is a cloud-based web security product. In addition to preventing viewing harmful information and websites unrelated to business with its filtering feature, it also prevents external attacks and internal information leaks. A database covering searchable URLs in Japan blocks access to dangerous websites and unknown threats, creating a network in which only websites that Digital Arts has determined to be safe can be accessed.
https://www.daj.jp/bs/datcloud/ifatcloud/


*1 Digital Arts "Survey of security measures taken by companies and organizations nationwide"　
https://www.daj.jp/company/release/common/data/2022/090201_reference.pdf
*2 Number of i-FILTER Ver. 10, m-FILTER Ver. 5, i-FILTER@Cloud and m-FILTER@Cloud users as of the end of September 2022 (in-house survey)
*3 Number of i-FILTER Ver. 10, m-FILTER Ver. 5, i-FILTER@Cloud and m-FILTER@Cloud users as of the end of September 2022 and number of malware infection reports by these users (in-house survey)
*4 Security Research Lab: Collects, researches, and analyzes threats on websites and in emails.