Ericom Shield for Osaki Computer Engineering (OCE)

INTERNET SEPARATION THAT ALLOWS INTERNET USE Internet separation is an extremely effective cybersecurity measure that is used widely in Japan. However, many internet separation solutions can substantially limit user productivity by restricting access to critical web-based applications and resources.
Since 2016, OCE has helped many local governments separate their internal networks from the internet to improve municipal information system security. Following Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology issuance of education information security policy guidelines, Boards of Education have begun seeking internet separation solutions. More recently, interest has grown among other government organizations and contractors that do business with local governments.
Healthcare organizations, which have always separated medical service systems from the internet, are now embracing the concept of secure browsing as well in order to beef up their cybersecurity strategy. Demand for secure browsing is also growing from companies that handle large amounts of personal information as part of routine business operations.
In response to growing demand, OCE sought a solution that would allow them to isolate client networks from web-borne threats, while still enabling end users to leverage the internet-based applications and services they need in order to do their jobs.
“Internet separation is an extremely effective way to block cyberattacks, as it eliminates a major attack vector that could otherwise be used to breach the organization’s network. As such, it seems clear that internet separation will continue to expand to additional industries,” explained Kurayoshi Nakao, Chief of Data Center Promotion Section at OCE. “We needed a solution that would allow us to deliver a secure browsing service that could flexibly address each client’s unique needs and environment.”

THE SOLUTION: CLOUD-HOSTED SECURE BROWSING POWERED BY ERICOM SHIELD
OCE evaluated several internet separation offerings, including VDI- and RDS-based solutions, but found that none offered the performance, features and ease of use they were looking for. After careful research, OCE selected Ericom Shield as the core element of their cloud-hosted secure browsing service. “All of the other products we looked at lacked a decisive advantage, but when I found Ericom Shield I thought, ‘This is just what I’ve been looking for!’,” commented Takurou Yashima of OCE’s Data Center Management Department.
Yashima cited the following advantages of Ericom Shield:

• Absolutely no web page source code is executed on the endpoint, eliminating the threat of malware infection. Instead, only a safe media stream is delivered to client PCs. This point is both extremely simple and extremely important, and our customers grasp the benefit immediately.

• Through fully integrated content disarm and reconstruction (CDR) functionality, files can be scanned and thoroughly cleansed prior to download without changing the file format, ensuring all essential functionality remains intact.

• No endpoint installation is required, making deployment fast and easy. New clients can simply redirect web traffic from their onpremise proxy server to one of the OCE Desktop as a Service’ global addresses, open a port for Ericom Shield to connect through their firewall, and install a dedicated certificate to enable SSL communication with the endpoint. That’s it!

“I find that many cloudbased services adopt a default stance of ‘can’t’ or ‘don’t’ toward things that fall outside of the service’s parameters. OCE, on the other hand, endeavors to offer comprehensive service that is tailored to each client’s unique needs and environment,” said Mr. Nakao. “We’ve applied that same approach when offering Ericom Shield as a cloud-hosted service to our clients and the feedback so far has been phenomenal. Customers say it was easy to choose our service because our product offers better performance and features compared to other services.”

RESULTS
OCE is the first Japanese company to deliver Ericom Shield as a service, which they refer to as their Secure Browsing Service. The superior performance and features of Ericom Shield, the simplicity of implementing the cloud-hosted service, and OCE’s customer-centric approach have all contributed to differentiate OCE from the competition, helping them gain customers’ trust and win new business.