IIJ Announces "wizSafe" A New Security Business Brand

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TOKYO-October 31, 2016-Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (IIJ, NASDAQ: IIJI, TSE1: 3774), one of Japan's leading Internet access and comprehensive network solutions providers, today announced the launch of the new IIJ security brand, "wizSafe," created to bolster its security business in response to growing demand. IIJ's all security services will be unified under this new brand with providing comprehensive security countermeasures with a newly implemented Data Analytics Platform as their foundation. IIJ will enhance its market competitiveness and expand its security business.

Brand concept

With the aim of creating a society in which its customers will be able to use the Internet without being conscious of security threat, IIJ has worked toward strengthening its security business with the wizSafe whose message includes "making safety a matter of course."

Logo

URL

• http://www.iij.ad.jp/wizsafe/ (only in Japanese language)

Background and objectives

Since proving the first-ever firewall service in Japan in 1994, IIJ has been using its expertise as an ISP operating one of Japan's largest backbone networks to provide a variety of security services and solutions. IIJ launched a taskforce in 2007 to monitor and analyze malware activity, and has been sending out the latest security information through its technical security report "Internet Infrastructure Review" since 2008.

Nevertheless, cyberattacks that target specific enterprises and organizations are increasing every year, and data leaks due to malware infections occur on a regular basis. Conventional security devices and individual countermeasure solutions are becoming less effective as attack methods grow in sophistication and ingenuity, meaning that more proactive countermeasures are needed to detect unknown threats.

In an effort to respond to this need in the market, IIJ reinforces its security business framework with such as fostering analyst, upgrading the current system platform and security operation center under the new banner of brand. This makes it possible to provide a variety of one-stop security countermeasures.

Security business competence

The Data Analytics Platform

The Data Analytics Platform collects backbone traffic and DNS data, as well as a huge amount of logs and event data from all services that IIJ provides to its customers, including firewalls, IPS, email, and the web, and then analyzes it to create security intelligence(*) that is unique to IIJ. This enables to find signs of threats and attacks that were not possible to detect with operations monitoring of individual services, as has been done up to now. By using the data accumulated on this Data Analytics Platform in security services, IIJ will be able to quickly respond to the latest threats and preemptively guard against them.

• (*) Security intelligence: An approach to security countermeasures that makes it possible to guard against future security threats by collecting and analyzing (in real time) large amounts of data generated by all systems and devices.

Security Operation Center

The Security Operation Center (SOC) is a facility that is equipped with all the necessary and appropriate systems for detecting and responding to risks with speed and accuracy 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, based on a massive amount of data. A Security Lab designed to handle highly confidential data, including analysis of customer PCs and the like will also be built within in the SOC. IIJ will respond to the advanced threats with collaboration between the Security Lab and the SOC.

Image of security operation center

• (*)The facility is slated to open for operation in March 2017.

IIJ C-SOC Service

The IIJ C-SOC Service is a security monitoring service that implements a customer-dedicated analytics platform linked up with IIJ's Data Analytics Platform at the security operation center. In addition to providing alerts, notifications, and logs, this service also offers reporting, advice, and even responses regarding events that occur in customer systems. IIJ expects to become able to understand and predict threats that arise on the Internet and actively apply preventive measures against those threats to customer systems.

Functions

• Log collection platform: Collection of security logs from connection routers installed in customer environments to store them on a log-collection platform
• Security log analytics: Detection of incidents that cannot be detected through devices alone, through links to the Data Analytics Platform
• Incident notifications: Notifications of high-severity incidents based on analyst decisions
• Incident response: Proposals of countermeasures and implementation of configuration changes to IIJ-operated devices in response to incidents that trigger notifications

• (*) Provision of this service is slated to begin in March 2017.

Plans for future service provision

IIJ plans to provide the following services through this new system.

• Initiatives to take appropriate preventive measures against malware using DNS data gained through the Data Analytics Platform (scheduled during fiscal year 2017)
• Provision of service functions for responding to large-scale DDoS attacks that exceeded 1Tbps (scheduled for January 2017)
• Provision of functions for reducing the risk of malware infections through the isolation of web-accessible environments (scheduled for January 2017)

IIJ will continue to enhance and increase its services to allow customers to use the Internet in their business with security and peace of mind.

The statements within this release contain forward-looking statements about our future plans that involve risk and uncertainty. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results. Readers are referred to the documents furnished by Internet Initiative Japan Inc. with the SEC, specifically the most recent reports on Forms 20-F and 6-K, which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements.

For inquiries, contact

IIJ Corporate Communications

• +81-3-5205-6310
• +81-3-5205-6377
• press@iij.ad.jp