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Due to the current novel Coronavirus situation, a phenomenon that can be called “last-minute remote work” is occurring. After the declaration of a state of emergency in Japan, the nationwide remote work implementation rate has risen by 27.9%. In Tokyo alone, 49.1% of regular workers are working remotely (*Persol Research and Consulting Institute). Of these, 68.7% report that this is their first remote work experience and that this unfamiliarity can cause a variety of problems.

Increasing Cybercrime
Cybercrime incidents are of particular concern for everyone. As corporate security measures are being stretched and loosened by the expansion of remote work, cybercriminals are taking advantage where and when they can.

【Increasing cybercrime】
1. Email phishing
Malicious email that attempts to trick IT department staff, management, business partners, etc. to click on links that lead to fake websites in order to steal personal and login information.

2. Malware attack
A form of cyberattack where a seemingly legitimate email contains a virus or ransomware program that is secretly downloaded when an attachment is opened or a link is clicked.

3. Video conferencing system exploit attack
This increasingly popular attack method takes advantage of vulnerabilities in widely used video conferencing software to hijack a user’s computer and send spam emails with fake video conference invitation emails.

Basic cybersecurity review
Even if your company falls victim to just one of these cyber attacks, the potential damage to finances, confidential information, social credibility, etc. is too great to risk. Now that there are greater vulnerabilities due to an increase in remote work, the basics of cybersecurity should be reviewed.

【Basic, protective security measures for remote work】
1. Thoroughly implement all email security measures
Email is the most common method for cyber attacks. In the case when there is even a small suspicion about an email, it is important to contact the sender by other means, such as telephone, and avoid clicking a link or downloading an attached file. Introducing a system that blocks such email and spam is essential.
Tsukaeru MailBuster provides email security with 100% virus and 99.98% spam blocking.

2. Avoid simple passwords
Are you using simple passwords such as “1234,” “abc123,” “qwerty,” “admin,” and even “password” to ki==log into your business computer or system? These types of simple passwords greatly increase your chances of falling victim to a cyber attack.

3. Always update computer OS and software
These OS and software updates contain very important security changes and vulnerability fixes. It is best to install as soon as the update notification is received.

4. Choose the tool with the proper security measures
The best way to effectively raise the level of remote work security is by choosing the right tools. Security should always be the top priority when making decisions.

“Tool selection” affects remote work outcomes
To achieve the high level of security needed for remote work, we recommend Tsukaeru Business Solutions. The thorough encryption using the latest protocols, detailed access permissions, and authentication system strictly blocks unauthorized logins. Tsukaeru products are equipped with the most advanced security measures for all situations.

By introducing Tsukaeru Business Solutions, you can implement remote work immediately at a reasonable cost and with outstanding security. To learn more, please feel free to contact us at Tsukaeru.

Tsukaeru Dokodemo Office can create a secure remote work environment in just a few hours.

Tsukaeru Filebako allows safe, remote work file sharing within the company (available free of charge until the end of June, 2020).

Tsukaeru Cloud Backup provides entire computer backup in just five minutes.

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As the effects of the new coronavirus spread around the world and the number of infected people in Japan rises every day, the importance of remote work for businesses is increasing. Previously promoted in the Tokyo metropolitan area as a countermeasure for congestion related to the Tokyo Olympics, the coronavirus situation makes it even more important now. If the number of cases in Tokyo continues to increase, normal business activities based on commuting may be severely restricted.

However, before starting remote work, it is necessary to prepare the right environment for everyone involved. For that reason, we recommend the Tsukaeru cloud solution for quickly and easily setting up a remote work environment at a low cost.

Tsukaeru Filebako for convenient file sharing
In order to smoothly implement remote work, it is important to first establish a method for easily exchanging files outside the office. Tsukaeru Filebako is a cloud storage service that is perfect for file sharing and teamwork. Featuring a simple interface and familiar folder structure, anyone can start using it without training. Uploaded files can be accessed from any device using the smartphone app.

Click here for details on Tsukearu Filebako

Tsukaeru’s Dokodemo Office for a simple and safe remote work environment
For a simple and comprehensive remote work environment, the best solution uses virtual technology. With Tsukaeru Dokodemo Office, an office environment can be built in a matter of hours without any complication, and all company apps and data can be accessed from anywhere, allowing the switch to remote work whenever necessary. Not only are Windows PCs supported, but all Apple MacOS, iOS and Android OS as well.

Click here for details on Tsukaeru Dokodemo Office

Office 365 for using Microsoft Office cloud applications
In addition to Microsoft cloud products ideal for remote work, such as Exchange Mail, Skype for Business, OneDrive, etc., Tsukaeru Office allows the use of familiar software such as Word, SharePoint, PowerPoint, and Outlook in the cloud. With Office 365 from a Microsoft official reseller, it is easy to connect with other available net services such as Tsukaeru Office 365 Protection (cloud backup service for Office 365 data). Additionally, our experienced Office 365 specialists offer the highest level of support.

Learn more about Office 365
Click here for details on Tsukaeru Office 365 Protection

Tsukaeru remote work introduction consultation fee is now waived! (limited time offer)
As described above, Tsukaeru cloud service provides a convenient, integrated solution for easy remote work implementation. In addition, until the end of May, Tsukaeru is waiving the 100,000 yen remote work consultation services fee! We pledge to do our best to support your remote work introduction. Please contact us to learn more.
Click here to contact us.

Toll-free number：0120-961-166
Office number：03-4590-8198

With the end of the 2010s, a new era has begun. What are your goals for 2020?
As the need for work-style reform increases, creating a comfortable workplace is an important issue this year for business owners and those in charge of HR. While there are various ways to affect this change, one of the most effective measures is remote work (telework).
In this first article of the new year, let’s review the advantages and disadvantages of remote work together and consider the easiest way to introduce it.

What are the benefits of introducing remote work?

Remote work can be an effective way to retain and recruit people. The ability to work from home or in a satellite office directly increases employee satisfaction and lowers turnover. This is also an advantage when hiring young, talented people who value flexibility in the workplace.
Another significant benefit is the reduction in commuting time and stress. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication’s 2016 Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities (*1), the national average for commuting time per day is one hour and 19 minutes (weekdays). In Tokyo, the average commute is one hour and 34 minutes, and in Kanagawa Prefecture, it can reach upwards of one hour and 45 minutes! Reducing long commutes is extremely effective in increasing employee motivation and productivity and improving work-life balance.
In addition, by embracing teleworking as a new and viable option in the office, employees who have excellent and valuable skills, but have difficulty working in a traditional manner due to issues such as family care needs or living too far away, can still contribute. This is a crucial factor in improving company competitiveness.

Potential problems to be aware of

Of course, there can be problems related to remote work. One emerging and unique issue are the feelings of loneliness and isolation that teleworkers can experience. Because these employees are less likely to meet their colleagues and often work on their own, they are more susceptible to stress from loneliness. Measures should be taken to mitigate such problems, such as increasing the frequency of team meetings and communication through corporate chat tools and video conferences.
Unfortunately, after remote work is introduced, it sometimes does not appear to produce good results and is therefore withdrawn as an option. This is often because management is not focused on managing tasks but on managing employees. Instead of trying to control employee working hours and styles, management should implement teleworking while also setting clear goals, quotas, and deadlines with a focus on measuring achievement.

Introduce telework easily and safely with Tsukaeru Dokodemo Office

So, how can you start teleworking at your company? The easiest, recommended solution is Tsukaeru Dokodemo Office, a service that allows the use of your usual work environment (Windows desktop and applications) anytime, anywhere, regardless of location or device (desktop, laptop, and smartphone). The following problems common to remote work introduction are solved at once, and the telework environment is easily created :

・Security – Latest features such as SSL encryption and two-factor authentication
・Cost – Clear and inexpensive rate plan
・Management – Simple and centralized application and data management
・Usability – Same familiar IT environment as the regular office

Why not make 2020 a leap year for your company with the introduction of telework?
Please contact us for a free trial of Tsukaeru’s Dokodemo Office!

Recently, the 19th typhoon of the year struck Japan, causing widespread damage and destruction. Natural disasters such as these can disrupt public transportation and cause businesses to shutter their operations. How can companies best plan and prepare for these kind of situations?

Unfortunately, the island nation of Japan often experiences these kinds of disasters which have been increasing in recent years. According to data gathered by the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, there were 12 large-scale disasters, with more than 10 deaths or more than 100 victims, from 1971 to 1975. However, from 2011 to 2015, there were 47 (*1).

Major disasters in Japan include earthquakes, typhoons, and heavy rains. In particular, heavy rains have been increasing recently. According to data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, the annual average number of heavy rains with precipitation of 50 mm/hour or more was 174 from 1976 to 1985. This number increased to 238 from 2008 to 2017 (*1), a remarkable increase of approximately 40 percent.

Furthermore, the risk of natural disaster exists everywhere in Japan, making it basically impossible to say, “This area is safe because there are few disasters.” According to a 2018 White Paper on Disaster Preparation, only four prefectures had no record of applying for the Disaster Relief Act between 1995 and 2017, and significant natural disasters occurred in almost all prefectures from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south. (*1)

In response to this new reality, changes in consciousness are emerging among companies. During the recent typhoon, many companies decided to temporarily close to ensure employee safety. In addition, in recognizing the potential risks of a disaster, some companies have begun to explore ways to handle disaster recovery situations. Currently, remote work is gaining attention as a disaster countermeasure.

Due to the impact of climate change, recent natural disasters have tended to be larger in scope and more devastating, and businesses are more susceptible than ever. However, if the impacts are long-term and business stagnates, this can become a major issue in relation to the survival of small- and medium-sized companies. One of the safest and most reliable ways to mitigate such risks is remote work.

With the right environment and system in place, remote work can allow employees to keep everything running smoothly even if the public transportation system is stopped or in dangerous weather. In addition to creating an excellent disaster countermeasure, it also can be advantageous to promote work style reform.

With Tsukaeru Dokodemo Office, create an easy and safe telework office anywhere

If you want to introduce a remote work environment, Tsukaeru Dokodemo Office is recommended to realize teleworking easily, securely, and at low cost. With the introduction of Dokodemo Office, you can always use Windows applications, regardless of location or device. Also, as security is crucial, advanced security measures, such as the latest SSL encryption and two-factor authentication, are included. If you are a manager or person in charge looking for reasonable, reliable, and effective disaster countermeasures, please visit the Tsukaeru Dokodemo Office website at the link below to learn more.

Despite the increasing number of companies focusing on security measures, cyber-attacks are still an enormous issue. Out of the need for more reliable security models, zero trust networks have emerged as the latest approach to cyber security.

The traditional approach to security measures is rooted in the notion that if a company’s network is protected by a firewall, then it is completely safe from outside intruders. Now, however, that presumption has been proven wrong. These days, a large number of attackers are able to hack into corporate networks through fake emails and other obscure methods. There have been many instances were the criminal accused of stealing data was shown to have been intruding into the targeted company’s network for several months prior to the incident.

This is how the need for zero trust networks came to exist. With the zero trust approach, there is no such thing as unconditional trust for all employees and they must reauthenticate their account each time. It assumes that potential attackers can be found inside of the network, as well as the outside. With zero trust, every time an employee accesses business data, a two-step authentication login that combines location information and biometric authentication is required.

Zero trust has been focused on two goals. The first is to fix the troubling reality that information leaks caused by cyber-attacks has not reduced. Large corporations such as Marriott, Uber, Sony, and Target are known to have invested heavily in security measures. And yet each one has continued to suffer from cyber-attacks. These events have proven that the traditional approach is becoming obsolete.

The second goal is the penetration of cloud and mobile in the business realm. Today, teleworking makes good use of cloud tools and smartphones for mobile work. These business practices are highly common today. Since the birth of zero trust, the conventional method of putting all one’s faith in a firewall has become washed out of existence.

The framework for zero trust is grounded on the premise that no account should be trusted. This is why reauthentication procedures are mandatory, as described above.

In addition to zero trust, another important rule of thumb is to only allow access to necessary files by the people who need it. For example, employees in the sales department are only allowed to access the data and applications needed for sales work. Other employees in the same company would not be able to see the files used by the sales staff.

Traditional security involves relying on firewalls, but the zero trust method constructs even stronger walls within these walls.

We hope you’ll take this opportunity to examine the benefits of zero trust and reconsider your company’s security policies.

An increasing number of companies across the world are engaged in work style reforms. It is worth noting, however, that the IT industry was the first to advocate for these impressive transformations. Big companies such as Amazon and Google are key examples of businesses that have revolutionized working cultures. In this article, we’ll discover vital factors that have led to the success of work reforms, based on the cases of Google, Amazon, and Yahoo.

Google is one of the best examples of a company with a creative, progressive, and highly productive workplace. Employees make use of advanced, real-time collaboration, and fully utilize cloud products such as spreadsheets, hang-outs, and drives. They are also big proponents of ‘the 20% rule.’ This rule claims that employees are much more creative, productive and independent when 20% of business hours are dedicated to individual or personal projects and in-house ventures.

Working from home, also known as remote work or teleworking, is not a common phenomenon in Japan. At Amazon, however, teleworking is highly common, especially amongst customer service personnel. By creating career opportunities for teleworkers that are similar to those working in-office, concerns about teleworking are slowly being dispelled. Recently there have been increasing cases of teleworkers being employed as permanent and long-term staff, instead of just contract employees.

Teleworking is encouraged throughout Yahoo!’s entire company. Their work culture allows employees to work anywhere they want, such as at home or at a cafe, using a laptop loaned to them from the company.

Even their conditions for teleworking allow for some freedom. Employees must obtain the approval of a superior on the day prior to the intended teleworking day, and on the day itself, they must report the start and end times of their working hours. The goal of this work style reform is to increase a sense of autonomy and independence in employees, increasing personal satisfaction, motivation, and empowerment. It is also believed that innovation is encouraged by reducing the number of rules. These are all key factors in transforming the work attitudes of all employees, and therefore, bringing about successful reforms.

This platform is highly recommended for all who are considering teleworking as a way to reform their working style and environment. It is compatible with a range of devices and systems, such as iPhones, iPads, Android, Windows, and more. This solution allows users to work in the same business environment anytime and anywhere without having to worry about differences in OS or hardware. It can be introduced at a low cost of 12,000 yen per active user, per year. Please see the product page to learn more.

People say: “I know that backups are important and I understand the risks, but it’s just too much work.” What they don’t realize, however, is that it requires more work to recover from data loss than it does to protect against it. This is even more true for business data.

Data loss due to HDD failure or accidents is far more common than people realize. In fact, it would be more accurate to consider data loss in terms of when it will happen, instead of whether it will.

Data loss from employee accidents is no stranger to most companies. According to a statistical survey, approximately 40% of companies that have experienced major IT accidents cease to operate within one year. 93% of companies with restricted access to data for more than 10 days, for reasons such as ransomware, are also reported as being bankrupt within one year. For all businesses, data loss is a serious risk which can lead to a business crisis.

There are a variety of scenarios in which a business crisis can occur due to insufficient backups. Here are some examples:

The day after an important shoot, a wedding photographer transfers his photos onto a computer and prepares his camera’s memory card for his next job. A few days later, however, the photographer checks his computer and realizes that the hard disk has broken down. The backup software had not been activated and all the important wedding photos from his previous job are now lost.

One day, a water pipe bursts in a company’s office building. Unfortunately, their servers were backed up in the basement, a place where they thought it would be safe from emergencies. In this case, however, a lot of flooding occurs in the basement. A water droplet gets on the hard drive and causes lasting damage. These are the accidents that can occur with on-premise backups.

The Pixar movie ‘Toy Story 2’ was a big hit in Japan, but did you know they almost lost all their work during production? An employee on the production team was organizing their data when they accidentally clicked on ‘Erase All.’ It turns out the backups had not been updated for several months, and for a short time, it seemed like all the data had been lost. Luckily, employees learned that the technical director had personally backed up, and this saved the entire project. Without the technical director’s effort to make a backup, all production work on the movie would have been lost in an instant.

You probably remember Myspace, a music SNS that once ran the world. More than 50 million MP3s were uploaded to MySpace from a myriad of artists, but most of them disappeared a few months ago. MySpace’s announcement describes the problem as, ‘troubles in server migration.’ MySpace apparently didn’t back up at all, so the possibility of recovering their lost files is zero.

If your company does not have backups of all your business data, then you must take action as soon as possible. Depending on the storage required, costs can start as low as 30 yen / 1 GBP / $0.98 per day. This service also protects against ransomware and DR / BCP. Please contact us if you’re interested.