— A flexible work environment with stronger security —
TRIART Inc. (head office: Iizuka City, Fukuoka Prefecture; hereinafter TRIART), a technology startup, and Toyota Motor Kyushu, Inc. (head office: Miyawaka City, Fukuoka Prefecture; hereinafter Toyota Kyushu) have developed and begun operating a management system that applies secret-sharing chain technology to easily prevent leaks of confidential data.
Servers and PCs that manage company data have traditionally required multiple security measures for confidential data, while staff have needed to follow complex procedures for controlling data removal. TRIART and Toyota Kyushu developed a system that strengthens these security measures while simplifying operations and making confidential data easier to protect. Named FLEXTHY, the jointly developed system began operating at Toyota Kyushu factories in June 2017.
FLEXTHY applies secret sharing to confidential data so that, even if data leaks, others cannot read it. Users can access confidential data through normal operations only on PCs managed by FLEXTHY; the data cannot be used on other PCs. FLEXTHY also controls USB devices and network connections on PCs and can lock other user operations and issue a warning for specified actions. When confidential data is copied or moved, usage histories are shared so that a leak can be traced to its source. As a result, companies can handle confidential data more freely without undue concern about external intrusion or unauthorized leaks by insiders.
During the fiscal year, we plan to use blockchain-based management of confidential information distribution to provide secure data management without deploying high-performance data management servers.
TRIART is a technology startup originating from Kyushu Institute of Technology. It aims to be a research-strategy company developing unique technologies through industry-academia collaboration. It has a track record in remote medical systems for smartphones requiring strong security and the network infrastructure supporting them. Its secure smartphone solutions have been adopted in many places in Japan and abroad. Toyota Kyushu, meanwhile, promotes regional collaboration to rediscover and make use of Kyushu strengths, based on its principles of developing local communities and coexisting and prospering with business partners. It is strengthening efforts to improve Kyushu overall competitiveness by collaborating with local IT startups.
* Secret sharing: A technology that distributes encrypted information so that no individual distributed fragment can be decrypted on its own.
■ Company Profile
Company: TRIART Inc.
Head office: CIRD, 680-41 Kawazu, Iizuka City, Fukuoka Prefecture
Representative: Kentaro Imazu
Business: Research and development of new technologies and realization of services
Company: Toyota Motor Kyushu, Inc.
Head office: 1 Kamiyuki, Miyawaka City, Fukuoka Prefecture
Representative: Tatsuya Kaneko
Products: [Lexus vehicles]
HS250h, CT200h, RX350 / RX450h / RX200t, NX200t
NX300h / NX200, ES300h / ES350 / ES250 / ES200
[Toyota vehicles]
SAI