Student Interviews

Yasuyuki Tanaka

I am considering new ways of approaching difficult problems such as zero-day attacks and detecting the latest malware.

My postgraduate experience has given me a global perspective and a new vision for my future

I wanted to study information security again, and excel in my field of study. I enrolled in the Master's programme as a temporary assignment from my company. With the help of my supervisor, Prof. Goto, I had the valuable opportunities to present my work at workshops and international conferences at an early stage. The high praise I received for my thesis at the conference led me to consider going on to study for a PhD. Also, the fact that I was selected as a candidate for the "Employee dispatch project for PhD", which was launched within my department to develop global human resources, also encouraged me to continue my studies. Thanks to my postgraduate studies, I have been able to make new contacts in the academic world. My name became known widely through my presentations at the conference, and now I am asked to review papers, sit on security symposiums, etc. I feel that I am making a valuable contribution. Through discussions at international conferences, I realised once again the advanced nature of information security research, especially in the US. It has given me a new direction for my future, as I want to lead the R&D of my company's overseas branches.

How to deal with zero-day attacks using the structural characteristics of the attack code

My doctoral research continues the theme of my master's research, which is "Countering new types of attack code and malware". Even if the attack code is up-to-date and difficult to defend against, such as zero-day attacks, there are common attack methods used by attackers. I propose a method to detect these by focusing on the characteristics of common codes that are likely to be used by attackers. I am also working on a statistical method to identify malware that cannot be detected by anti-virus software. I am hopeful that the results will be useful to society, as both of these projects address problems that are currently difficult to solve.

Yasuyuki Tanaka
Yasuyuki Tanaka
NTT Communications Corporation
Enrolled in April 2015
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