R&D Focus Area:Information Technology and Society
PUBLIC NEEDS for this R&D area:
Area Director:
Norihisa DOI
Professor, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University
Social problems to be solved:
- Existence of considerable risk of incidents related to information technology (IT) and information systems with potential for immeasurable damage to society.
- Difficulty in establishing much-needed policies on governance for an emerging ubiquitous society.(*1)
It is crucial to identify IT-related risks to society in order to mitigate them and to present basic requirements for information system security.
- (*1) Note: One of the characteristics of a ubiquitous society is its speed in advancement. Cutting-edge technologies tend to be quickly introduced into such a society and put to practical use. In other words, the technologies that are supporting that society could simultaneously be in their testing and implementation phases. As the basis and structure of a ubiquitous society change rapidly, it is difficult to formulate its governance structure from a long-term perspective.
GOALS:
- To promote research on the governance of a ubiquitous society and relevant emerging technologies and to develop several proposals for legal registrations, guidelines and implementation methods.
- To examine and identify vulnerabilities related to information systems that are already in use as key components of critical infrastructures, and to propose new schemes for risk management.
R&D Program: Governance in Ubiquitous Society (FY2005-2010)
- To fund and support five R&D projects that are designed to pursue Goal [1]
- R&D Project
R&D Project: Challenge in Identifying the Vulnerabilities Hidden in Our Highly Sophisticated Information Society and Exploring Solutions (FY2003-2007)
This program was complete at the end of FY2007, having achieved its mission on Goal [2] as planned. Major results:
- Development of a hazard map simulator for information system accidents
- Development and trial application of a Multiple Risk Communicator
- Proposal for a Cryptography SLA (Security Level Agreement)
- Proposals on DRM (Digital Rights Management)
- Proposals on an information telecommunication system for emergencies
- Analyzed effective investment methods for information security
- Issues and proposals on policies and laws related to information security
