Press Release

September 4, 2018
Digital Arts Inc.

Compiled an m-FILTER® whitelist database that allows comparison with sender data, in order to mount solid defense against e-mails with hidden senders

TOKYO, Japan (September 4, 2017) – Digital Arts Inc. (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan, CEO: Toshio Dogu, hereinafter referred to as “Digital Arts”, Code 2326) a leading provider of information security software, has created an e-mail security software for enterprises and public offices called m-FILTER, that features a whitelist database (hereinafter referred to as a “white list DB”) that can flag e-mails with hidden transmission sources. It can do this by checking the sender information of the received e-mail, thus making it possible to more strongly filter out these kinds of e-mails, and allowing users to receive only safe e-mails.

Cyber-attacks targeting companies are becoming more sophisticated by the day, and damage caused by e-mail based attacks are increasing steadily. Mass emails with “.igy” files attached were found for the first time in Japan in the beginning of August, and due to this influence Digital Arts has begun to provide the free service D-Alert1, which has since then recorded the largest number of blocks since services began. In the IPA's announcement on the “10 Major Information Security Threats of 20182,” the damage caused to businesses by e-mail fraud is regarded as third largest threat, behind only targeted attacks and ransomware, and the importance of e-mail security for companies is increasing.

At Digital Arts, we have been continuously building an environment that allows users to safely receive e-mails and browse websites by releasing products that thoroughly eliminate targeted attacks. The newly established whitelist database is a function that uses m-FILTER Ver. 5 to judge the safety of an e-mail. This allows the “Cloud Lookup Function3” of i-FILTER Ver. 10 (an enterprise and government-focused web security software released in September of last year) to be used with m-FILTER.

This database is an accumulation of safe senders that have been verified by Digital Arts, put together into a whitelist. Users who use m-FILTER can confirm the safety of received e-mails by checking them against this whitelist database before opening the e-mail. Users do not need to consciously check each e-mail before viewing as the software will have pre-verified it, thus lightening the workload for the user. Also, in order to always maintain high up-to-date discovery rate in the whitelist database, Digital Arts maintains a cloud server that stores malicious senders’ information, including their IP addresses and other relevant data. Digital Arts then confirms each and every data entry to ensure accuracy.

This function will be available to cloud service m-FILTER@Cloud users from October 5. After that, it will become useable with the on-premises version of m-FILTER Ver.5.20 from November 5.

About the new functions of m-FILTER Ver.5.20, m-FILTER@Cloud

  • Whitelist transmission function
  • Improved e-mail search function for quarantined e-mails
  • Quarantined e-mail notification control function
  • Update function for prohibited file extension list / impersonation keyword list / abbreviated URL list
  • FinalCode® encrypted attachment browser view support (m-FILTER Ver.5.20 R01 only)
m-FILTER method of blocking e-mails with hidden sources via whitelist database

< m-FILTER method of blocking e-mails with hidden sources via whitelist database >

Digital Arts develops and provides a wide range of solutions such as countermeasures and defense against targeted external attacks, as well as information leakage from within organizations. We are working to deliver quickly on this, and will continue aiming to boost product satisfaction as part of realizing a safer internet environment.

  • *1 D Alert is a free information provision service that uses i-FILTER Ver.10 to inform both customers and non-customers of information related to suspected malware infections or suspected homepage falsification threats.
  • *2 Source:IPA“10 Major Information Security Threats of 2018”
  • *3 The cloud lookup function is a function installed with i-FILTER (Ver.10.) With it, when a user tries to access a URL unregistered in the database, that URL’s access information (with all personally identifiable information stripped) is sent to the cloud database for verification.
  • ※ DIGITAL ARTS, i-FILTER, info board, ARS, ActiveRatingSystem, ACTIVE RATING, ZBRAIN, D-SPA, SP-Cache, NET FILTER, White Web, m-FILTER, m-FILTER MailFilter, m-FILTER Archive, m-FILTER Anti-Spam, m-FILTER File Scan, Mail Detox, DigitalArts@Cloud, D Alert, and related logos and icons are trademarks or registered trademarks of Digital Arts Inc. FinalCode is a registered trademark of FinalCode, Inc.