Student Interviews

Toshiya Sugii

Working on a system to detect malware infections at an early stage, focusing on the endpoint rather than the corporate network.

Multidisciplinary knowledge is required to respond to increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks

My company's main business is system construction and maintenance support for various hardware and software, including NEC products. I have been involved in the planning of security-related products and services, as well as the proposal and construction of security systems. I have been doing the same job since I joined the company, but with the increasing sophistication of cyber attacks, security measures have become more complex. Nowadays, the customer's organisational structure and incident response policy must also be taken into account. Therefore, I decided to study at IISEC through the company's education programme, as I felt that I needed to learn management and law in addition to technology. I believe that IISEC is a very good option for gaining a range of specialist knowledge and experience in information security.

Not only technical subjects, but also management and legal subjects.

My life is currently centred on my studies at IISEC. I have taken a wide range of subjects, with a focus on the "System Design Course". In order to plan better security services for companies and organisations, I am also actively studying management subjects such as international standards and law. The advantage of studying at postgraduate level after working in a company is that it is easier to understand the content because of the practical experience. IISEC has many mature students like myself, who are involved in information security. Also, many faculty members have years of practical experience in each industry, which means that IISEC offers many opportunities to learn a wide and deep specialised knowledge.

Monitoring endpoints to detect malware infections at an early stage.

My research is based on the idea of defence-in-depth and addresses the establishment of a management system for early detection of malware infections. In some cases, the network is monitored and intrusions are detected by SOC, but I focus on the endpoints. I compare the behaviour of my organisation's endpoints with the baseline and with the behavioural characteristics of malware. Through these, I am exploring the possibilities of early detection of a malware, and the development of a management system for its operation. In recent years, companies have been required to take a systematic approach to information security, for example by setting up a CSIRT department. I would like to apply my experience at IISEC to help reduce malware damage in the world.

Toshiya Sugii
Toshiya Sugii
NEC Fielding, Ltd.
Enrolled in October 2016
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