News

Tech Tales of Terror: Admin's Real-Life IT Incidents Retold by Professional Ghost Storytellers in Person - September 12th2024.07.26

HENNGE K.K. (headquarters: Shibuya, Tokyo, Representative Director, Chief Executive Officer: Kazuhiro Ogura) is thrilled to announce an event for IT system administrators today, July 26th, System Administrator Appreciation Day.
The event, Scary Stories Only for SysAdmins, will be held on September 12th, 2024, at Kanda Myoujin Hall, sharing haunting IT incidents retold as horror stories.

In the event, two professional ghost storytellers, Yamayu and Ryokichi Iyama, will tell hair-raising case studies based on real-life incidents to raise awareness of serious IT hazards, including ransomware attacks, lost PCs, and misdirected emails. Vicarious experience, not ordinary case study presentations, must sharpen the audience's sense of crisis and empower them to share the cautionary tales with their colleagues.

■ The Date of the Event
Thursday, September 12th, 2024
Doors open at 16:00

■ The Official Website of the Event
https://hennge.com/special/scarystory2024

■ The Outlines of the Event
Through extensive conversations with system administrators, HENNGE discovered that those who have faced the threat of security incidents and near-misses develop a heightened sensitivity to risks and a keen awareness of potential problems. This event aims to cultivate that same foresight in all attendees. At the event, HENNGE calls these security-conscious individuals, capable of anticipating incidents almost as if they possessed supernatural powers, "Reisys" - system administrators with psychic vision (霊視 reishi). Immersed in the chilling, real-life case studies transformed into horror stories, participating admins will evolve into seasoned Reisys, better equipped to protect their organizations from accidents and cyberattacks.

• - Venue: Kanda Myoujin Hall (2-16-2, Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)
• - Participant: System administrators in organizations
• - Charge: Free (registration required)
  A lottery will determine the participants. You can find more details on the official website.
• - Host: HENNGE

■ Timetable
16:00 Doors open
17:00-18:30 Presentations

• - Four tales of tech terror
• - Introduction of Tadrill, a cybersecurity training service

Examples of tech terror stories
13 seconds left until the server shutdown
"This is a story of when I was in my first year as a system admin. I was sent alone on a business trip to some remote facility to replace a UPS on a server rack. I was very anxious, but my boss calmed me down, saying he would give me all the necessary instructions through video chat.

On the day of the replacement, I was in the facility. First, I unplugged the old UPS cable. Easy enough. Then, I grabbed the new cable, ready to plug it in... and it didn't fit. I tried again and again. The connector never did match. Why? I panicked. Am I plugging into the wrong socket? My boss, beyond the display, rushes me. 'Hurry up,' he yells, 'The connector must be right!' But it's just not working.

Then he drops a bombshell: 'Oh, by the way, the server's backup power only lasts 10 minutes. If that runs out, we lose all communication—networks, phones, everything.' I glance at the clock. 9 minutes and 47 seconds have passed since I started. I scramble to put everything back as it was, somehow managing to restore the original setup.

We found out later that the manufacturer had sent us a UPS with a different type of connector."

Screen sharing of shivers
"I was on an enterprise system replacement project with our partner company when unexpected extra fees popped up. The contractor's initial estimate turned out to be way off, adding six months to the project timeline. They even demanded that we pay for their oversight and lack of thoroughness to accomplish the project.

Of course, we could not stand for that. We were already paying a fortune for the project, and we had warned them from the start that they might not fully understand our requirements.

Before the meeting to discuss the additional, unreasonable fee, I shared roles with my colleague. He would act all enraged, and I would play the calm one. We were meeting online and connecting from our office meeting room. After some conversation, it was time for his big moment. I messaged him, 'Go! Get furious!'

But he just freezes up. He goes pale and points at the monitor. I get confused, so I look, and there it is, in plain sight—the message I'd sent him, shared with everyone in the meeting, including the contractor."

Smartphone contract with evil
"Back when I worked for a company as an IT admin. Our company had contracted with a telecommunication company for about 100 smartphones, each costing 10,000 yen monthly, which amounted to an annual cost of 12 million yen.

'Why not use bulk discounts for corporate clients?' I wondered. 'We are paying as much as individual users.'

No one knew the reason. All I could get from my colleagues was this same response: 'Your predecessor explained that the cost was legitimate.' But I wasn't convinced, so I went straight to the telecom company and inquired about their pricing. I asked, 'Don't you provide discounts for businesses?' They answered, 'Yes, we do. We offer an unlimited calling plan for companies under 5,000 yen a month.' After that, I could not trust anyone at my company."

Professional Ghost Storytellers on the Event


夜馬裕 / Yamayu
He is a renowned professional ghost storyteller and a writer who loves cats, bars, movies, cooking, deep-sea fish, and haunted houses.
He won an award at the 7th Yu Fact-Based Ghost Stories Award and placed first in the Ghost Storytellers Competition 2020. A manga, Endan Yawa, based on his original stories, is now serialized on Sunday Webry. His major works include the Endan series, Jitaku Kaidan, Yogen Kaidan, Yoyogi Kaidan, and Shumi Kaidan.

Comment from Yamayu:
Ghost stories scare us because they are about the unknown, suddenly disrupting our everyday lives. The more inevitable they are, the more frightened we become. The fear you feel on the jobs of IT admins shares the source with ghost stories. So, we may call the tech tales of terror the modern-day horror stories.


伊山亮吉 / Ryokichi Iyama
Born in Yokohama in 1992, he is an enthusiast of the Inari shrine. When hospitalized for accidents or illness, he cheerfully starts interviews and collects ghost stories there. He won first place in the Ghost Storytellers Competition 2022 and the Tokyo Kwaidan Festival 2024. He is also the author of Ikai no Mon, a collection of fact-based, strange, scary stories.

Comment from Ryokichi Iyama:
The word "scary" can mean various things, some fundamentally unchanging and some changing with the times. This event is truly an opportunity to talk about horrific experiences that could not have existed 100 years ago. As a modern-day ghost storyteller, I am honored to participate in the event.

More contents of the event
Sealing additional scary stories
The venue exhibits stories untold by the storytellers on panels. The attendees choose the most horrifying episode and put amulets on it to prevent it from happening again. The story that frightens most people will get the most amulets.



Amulets against targeted email attacks: benefit for all attendees
As a participation benefit, all attendees will receive a set of 30 amulets against targeted email attacks. Give them to your colleagues and superiors to put on their PCs to raise their awareness of the danger of the attacks, which could come from anywhere at any time.


Afterparty with other Reisys, awaking IT admins
After raising awareness of cyber risks through frightening stories, you can enjoy a party with other admins.
Happoen, a restaurant with over 80 years of history, provides attendees with a feast. Delicious meals facilitate admins' smooth communication to exchange information to prevent incidents.

Examples of Possible Incidents Only Visible for Reisys
Experienced IT admins can detect potential risks even from ordinary scenes in daily life.
The images below compare the simulated views of ordinary people and skilled admins, who can see the ones on the right.

On the train

Experienced admins recognize:

• - The risk of information leakage through a screen without a privacy filter
• - The risk of information leakage due to leaving the PC open and getting away from it

• - The risk of information leakage from a part of a resume in a photo posted on social media
• - The risk of laptop damage from a pen on its hinge when closed

• - The risk of personal information leakage from employee ID cards worn during drinking
• - The risk of company smartphone damage due to putting it unstable and dropping
• - The risk of laptop damage due to putting things on it

■ About Tadrill
Since July 2024, HENNGE has offered Tadrill, a new solution against cyberattacks via emails, such as targeted email attacks, to help raise awareness of the threats. Targeted email attacks are recently increasing cyberattacks in which attackers send emails to specific companies or individuals pretending to be trusted business partners or vendors to defraud them of confidential information. The spoofed emails often become the source of infection to ransomware, leading to confidential information leakage and even business suspensions.

Tadril is an ideal solution for making cybersecurity drills easy, building a culture of reporting, enhancing security standards in organizations, and decreasing the risks of information leakage.

URL: https://hennge.com/jp/service/tadrill/

■ About HENNGE K.K.
Established in November 1996, HENNGE K.K. is a SaaS company guided by the philosophy of "liberation of technology to change the world." It develops and sells unique services that bridge the gap between technology and reality, providing "HENNGE One," a one-stop cloud security service that enables consolidated IDs and passwords management of multiple cloud services, and "Customers Mail Cloud, " a cloud email distribution service. Since October 2019, HENNGE had been listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), Mothers, and then, a transition was made to the TSE Growth in April 2022.
The company name "HENNGE" originated from the Japanese character for transformation, 'HENNKA' and 'CHALLENGE' representing its commitment to keep challenging against every change we encounter.

Company name: HENNGE K.K. (securities code: 4475)
Address: Daiwa Shibuya Square, 16-28 Nanpeidaicho, Shibuya City, Tokyo
Representative: Kazuhiro Ogura (Representative Director, Chief Executive Officer)
URL: https://hennge.com/

■ Contact information for inquiries regarding this press release
HENNGE K.K.
Corporate Communication Division
Email: info@hennge.com
TEL: 03-6415-3660
Person in charge: Yamamoto

■ Contact information for inquiries regarding the event
PR Office of Scary Stories Only for SysAdmins event
Email: pr-hennge@71inc.jp

*The names of companies, products, and services mentioned in this press release are trademarks or registered trademarks of HENNGE.K.K. or other related organizations.