Public Relations

Asgent Announces New Service for Ensuring Safe Use of Wireless Systems Providing safe data connections and real-time analysis for in-house/external access points

March 15, 2017
Asgent, Inc.
(JASDAQ: 4288)

Asgent, Inc. (JASDAQ: 4288, President & CEO: Takahiro Sugimoto, located in Chuo-ku, Tokyo), a pioneer in network security and operations management solutions, announces the signing of a Distributor and MSSP Agreement with Coronet Cyber Security Ltd. (Co-Founder & CEO: Guy Moskowitz, located in Israel) to provide "SecurityPlus(*1) Wireless Security Service by Coronet", a service designed to allow secure utilization of Wi-Fi and cell towers by mobile devices.

As a result of the spread of smartphone and tablets, the number of subscribers using data communication by Wi-Fi and cell is drastically increasing. According to the "2016 Awareness Survey on Information Security Threats", carried out by IPA (Information-technology Promotion Agency), the number of users connecting free Wi-Fi such as public wireless LAN was 31.5%, an increase upon the previous year(*2). Also, looking forward to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication is currently working to promote development of public wireless LANs, with the number of wireless LANs expected to increase in the future. However, while public wireless LANs allow for fast data transfer on the road and decreases in the cellphone packet costs, there are also security concerns that must be taken into mind.

Some of the threats that could attack public wireless LANs or cell tower usage include eavesdropping by third parties, use of services by spoofing and users accessing malicious access points (AP). Therefore, the user needs to choose a secure AP, but it is difficult for users to be sufficiently aware and judge which APs have vulnerabilities or are malicious APs designed to look like to real APs.

There are most certainly business people who, when on the road, will have some vague security fears when connecting to airport or hotel Wi-Fi access points. There are cases where malicious APs*4 are set up so that when a user connected to one uses VPN to connect , their ID and password used for VPN are stolen, leading to security holes where attackers can access the corporate network as a recognized user. In just the past few years, many attacks have been reported including the DarkHotel attack, the Deutsch Telekom customer-facing attack and Trojan horse attacks on Wi-Fi routers. Also, Wi-Fi hacking demos are gaining massive popularity on YouTube.

Before Coronet, the only security available for Wi-Fi security was in-house AP security measures. Coronet provides the only external and global Wi-Fi and cellular communication*5 security solution.

Coronet's solution is a security platform that allows mobile devices such as cellphones and laptop PCs to securely use wireless systems. It does this by blocking access to any AP that does not meet a predefined security level. Also, it monitors the communication behavior after connection has been established. For example, the solution will block connection following detection of any anomaly such as an ARP table being changed. Because Coronet’s unique AI algorithm using threat indicators, which is in turn based on analyzing APs in real-time using global big data and the client mobile device, it is possible to determine if there is any threat from any newly created AP.

In addition, Coronet supports Windows, Mac OS, Android and iOS, enabling all devices to maintain the same security level.

Asgent will start providing the Coronet solution as an MSSP service from May 2017. The service will include configuration of security policy and operations management on behalf of the customer. By utilizing this "SecurityPlus Wireless Security Service by Coronet"”, users will be able to ensure secure wireless communication with corporate security policy. This service is open priced.

*1 The generic name for a group of services that provide the highest quality of security, including Asgent's security knowhow gained over many years.

*2 "2016 Awareness Survey on Information Security Threats" (https://www.ipa.go.jp/files/000056568.pdf)

*3 Promotion of development of Public Wireless LAN
(http://www.soumu.go.jp/menu_seisaku/ictseisaku/public_wi-fi/index.html)

*4 Wi-Fi Pineapple: AP device for penetration testing and can be used as fake AP, available for about \10,000 over the internet.

*5 Security incidents in which mobile devices are hacked or data is manipulated by femto/pico UMTS with OpenBTS software installed as a fake cell access point, have been reported overseas.

[Coronet Awards]
  - Tech Trailblazers Security Award 2015
  - Cisco + Pioneers Innovation Challenge 2015 Top 15
  - 2016 Global Mobile Security Technology Innovation Award

[Wireless Security Service by Coronet]
Expected Sales Price: Open Price
Main Features:
  - Visualization of security risks in surrounding APs on a global scale, regardless of whether they are in-house or external
  - Secure connection to APs that are covered by corporate security policy
  - Analysis of possible malicious APs by threat indicators
  - Monitoring of communication before, during and after connection established
Supported Devices:
  - Android 4.4.2 and above
  - iOS 8.0 and above
  - Windows 7 and above
  - OS X 10.12 and above