Public Relations

Asgent Announces Release of new version of M@gicPolicyQUICK, Personal Information Protection Management Streamlining Tool

- Compliant with JIS Q 15001, Information Security Management Standards, ISMS Authentication Standards, JIS X5080 -

November 29, 2004
Asgent,Inc.

Asgent, Inc. (President & CEO: Takahiro (Shuji) Sugimoto, located in Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo), a pioneer in security solutions, announces the start of sales of “Ma@gicPolicyQUICK” Ver.2.0, a management streamlining tool for the protection personal information, on December 1st.

With the introduction of the Personal Information Protection Act set for the spring of 2005, companies are faced with the necessity to implement effective measures and management structures to ensure that they are compliant with the new law. However, under standards such as the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry-formulated Information Security Audit System, traditional security products provide sufficient coverage for only 18% (*1) of necessary security measures. The remaining 82% need to be covered by day-to-day operations and management (for example, in the case of protection of personal information, it is necessary to destroy information using appropriate methods, ensure that the persons in charge of handling personal information are clearly assigned and formulate procedures that detail how information that has been collected or created based on classification procedures adopted by the organization is handled.)

However, effective management is more difficult that it seems at first, with many companies noting that “Standards are nothing more than a pie in the sky, and cannot be implemented”, “Education doesn’t necessary lead to increased understanding of security among employees”, “No mechanisms exist that are easily understood by management”.

With these concerns in mind, Asgent announces the release of the latest version of “M@gicPolicyQUICK”. “M@gicPolicyQUICK” is a personal information management streamlining tool that supports the Personal Information Protection Act, Information Security Management Standards and ISMS. It also allows information policy documents to be easily and responsibly put into action by breaking them down into an easy to manage PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle.

The ability to improve management efficiency is a particularly large feature. By delivering security management Actions to each employee’s To Do List and having each employee check a checkbox to confirm that the action has been completed, security management can be effectively implemented. Also, by maintaining logs of the daily checklists and creating diverse security analysis documentation, managers can keep a grasp on problems at hand and issues directives for changes in a timely fashion as though they were reading a financial statement. The security manager then confirms the directives and implements them, so maintaining the PDCA cycle and insuring improvements and strengthening of security.

The latest version of M@gicPolicyQUICK provides regulatory manuals and operation checklists that are compliant with the Personal Information Protection Act as well as covering the four main elements that are required by the Act (operational checks for data lifecycle, data security check, employee education through distribution of To Do lists, establishment of management procedures for protection of personal information). There is also added functionality for associating various security products with operational checklists, a function to produce and distribute basic procedural manuals, an HTML help function for difficult to understand vocabulary, and the ability to strengthen security more easily, with over 100 product improvements.

*1 Based on research conducted by Asgent, Inc.

[M@gicPolicyQUICK]

Proposed Sales Price: \480,000 (excluding tax)

[Main Features of Ver. 2.0]

1. Regulatory manuals, operational checklists that are tailor made to personal information protection.
   • operational checks for personal information data lifecycle
   • personal information data security check
   • employee education through distribution of To Do lists
   • establishment of management procedures for protection of personal information


2. Improvements in ease of use
   • HTML help function for difficult to understand vocabulary
   • Improved operational schedule
   • Simple user registration with CSV format support


3. Strengthened analysis function
   • Easily understood charts showing analysis results for departments, categories, time periods etc.


4. Improved printing function
   • Added ledger sheet format


5. Data backup, restore function
   • Ability to choose from full backup or periodic backup


6. Support for various security products
   • Function for associating various security products with operational checklists
   • Function for displaying logs (Text format and URL type) from various security products


7. Basic Procedural Manual function
   • Ability to produce and distribute basic procedural manuals for individual organizations


8. Customization function for regulations and checklist
   • Ability to produce and distribute basic procedural manuals for individual organizations