The company is responding to the growing social momentum for de-PPAP, and appreciates the ease of use and affinity with Microsoft 365 without sacrificing convenience.
Shibuya Ward is taking the opportunity of its relocation to a new government building in January 2019 to completely renew its ICT infrastructure in order to transform the work styles of its employees. The innovative ICT infrastructure was born from the desire to “think outside the box and achieve both security and convenience at a high level,” and improvements continue to be made. Now, Shibuya Ward has introduced HENNGE One with the aim of “eliminating PPAP. The system has enhanced e-mail security without compromising the convenience of the staff.
— What made you start considering this project?
In November 2020, the minister in charge of digital reform announced a policy of de-PPAP, in which files with passwords are sent via e-mail, which triggered a growing movement to follow suit in various places. Therefore, around October 2021, after a break had been reached in the renovation of the infrastructure associated with the relocation, we began to consider specific measures to address the situation.
— Please tell us about your requirements and comparative study in selecting tools.
In the past, we used an automatic file encryption product. In selecting a new tool, we focused on maintaining the same or better security without reducing convenience, and especially without increasing the number of procedures for staff to deal with. At first, we considered using the standard or add-on functions of the e-mail software we were using, but since the functions were not designed for PPPAP removal, the operability did not meet our requirements, and we could not undo e-mail misdirection, we decided not to adopt them. The company decided not to adopt the system. From there, we compared cloud-based e-mail security services and finally decided to adopt HENNGE One’s “automatic attachment URL conversion” function (HENNGE Secure Download).
— What was the deciding factor in adopting HENNGE One?
The initial requirement was the ease of use that did not reduce the convenience of the staff, and of course, being a cloud service type, it also has a cancellation function as a countermeasure against erroneous transmissions and a function to turn off the reference to attached files after a certain period of time. In addition, HENNGE One is highly compatible with Microsoft 365, so there is no need for dual account management, which was required with other companies’ products, and this was a deciding factor in our selection.
— Please tell us about the verification process from the time of selection to the start of use.
The most time-consuming part of the process was examining the response according to the recipient’s receiving status. Our counterparties were diverse, including residents and private companies, as well as the national government, other municipalities, and legislators. In particular, in municipalities with the alpha model (*¹), e-mail is sent via LGWAN and files that go over the Internet may not be received. There are also cases where VDI or remote desktop is being used. Assuming such various patterns of counterparties, we spent careful time to verify what would happen if we changed the current way of doing things to HENNGE One, and whether it would cause any burden to the counterparties.
As a conclusion, we decided to use HENNGE Secure Download for external e-mails in principle, but as a countermeasure against irregularities, we also made it possible to choose the conventional method of sending Zip files. Although there is a method to automatically identify the sending method by specifying the domain name, we have set it to be selected by the sender. Currently, we believe that the method of exchanging and delivering files by e-mail is in a transitional stage. While security is being strengthened, operations cannot be carried out without a certain degree of freedom. We are glad that we selected HENNGE One because of its flexibility.
In response to the “three-tier separation” policy for municipal information security measures announced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in 2016, efforts were made to separate networks and business terminals into (1) office systems using personal numbers (my number), (2) systems connecting to the LGWAN (comprehensive administrative network), and (3) systems connecting to the Internet. This model based on the original policy is called the Alpha Model.
— Please tell us about the effects of utilizing HENNGE One.
We feel that the greatest achievement is that our approximately 2,800 users are using the system as usual without any problems. Email is the most frequently used tool, used by everyone every day. We were concerned that even the slightest change in the way it is used would lead to staff dissatisfaction and an increased workload in responding to inquiries. In fact, however, it was accepted with surprising ease, and the use of the tool seems to have progressed smoothly. We have prepared a FAQ in anticipation of questions from our counterparts and introduced the URL of the explanation page of HENNGE, and if the problem persists, we ask them to contact us.
— Are there any new things you have achieved by using HENNGE One?
Any staff member with a Microsoft 365 account can securely send attachments via email using the same mechanism, regardless of location or device. This is an effect that could not be realized with the previous on-premise system. Also, even in the irregular case of sending a Zip file encrypted by oneself, the system automatically identifies the file and sends it as an encrypted file, so the user does not have to be particularly conscious of the security.
— Please tell us your evaluation of our response from proposal to construction and operation.
HENNGE provided us with generous support from the review stage, including the provision of a verification environment and technical support in cooperation with the lead vendor. We are grateful to HENNGE for their support in preparing for the email operation, which is difficult because its operation depends on the other party’s environment, and for the fact that we have been able to use it stably without any unexpected problems since we started using it.
— Are there any functions you would like to use in the future?
We have been aware that HENNGE One has a wide variety of functions since its introduction, but we are satisfied with the basic functions, and there are no additional options that we would like to use at this time. However, by implementing a cloud service solution, we feel confident that we can expand the functionality at any time in the future, depending on changing circumstances and needs.
— Do you have any advice for other municipalities that are facing similar problems?
First of all, security and safety come first. In the midst of such a fast-paced IT environment, the first thing to do is to keep up with the latest information and to keep up with the latest technology. It is also important not to jump on the bandwagon, but to think about how to make the best use of the technology based on a thorough understanding of how it works.
— Finally, what are your expectations for our company?
In e-mail, the issue is how to maintain the security of encrypted incoming files. We plan to continue strengthening and improving our ICT infrastructure by taking advantage of our location in Shibuya, where it is easy to collaborate with companies working on advanced technologies.