The 129th Installment
Reincarnation as a university professor

by Masayuki Okuhara,
Professor

My name is Masayuki Okuhara, and I been teaching classes on information security since the 2020 academic year. Until last year, I worked in the systems engineering department of an ICT company, and conducted technical investigations related to information security and responded to information security incidents. Since I had not been involved with research or lectures for most of my life, it is now like I have been reincarnated in a different world, and there is always something new and surprising each day. When I was reincarnated, I did not receive any special cheats or skills from up above, so I have been training while increasing my experience points back up from zero.

Based on my experience at my previous job, I would like to talk about the theme of “crises.” If you think about it, the year 2020 was probably a perfect example of a crisis. That said, crises are not limited to the spread of infectious diseases. Only 10 years ago, there was a large-scale natural disaster centered in eastern Japan. This was also undoubtedly a crisis. Also, the information security incidents that I was responsible for responding to (for some reason in this industry we like to call it security incident in katakana) were also unquestionable crises for everyone involved.

What is a crisis? It means a situation that requires urgency. Something unusual happens and must be dealt with quickly. The situation will go from bad to worse if the correct actions are not taken. Stomach-churning situations like these are considered crises by delicate, ordinary, and hard-working people like myself.

There are many different kinds of crisis, but there is one thing that without a doubt must be secured first in almost any kind of crisis. What do you think it is? Some good examples would be food, water, fuel, electricity, cash, and human resources. These are certain all necessary, but there is something else that is most important.

The first thing you need to ensure in a crisis is information. Crises generally start with a situation where you do not know what is going on. The first step to take in a crisis is to know what is happening at that moment as accurately as possible. In crises, limited resources must be used as effectively as possible within a limited time frame to deal with the situation. In many cases, it is not possible to achieve perfect results. After all, there are situations that determine priorities in dealing with them. Correct information is essential to ensure that these decisions are made correctly.

Let's take earthquakes as an example. Many materials are needed to protect victims and recover during a disaster. However, in such a situation, in order to deliver the required amount of materials to the required locations, it is necessary to process a large amount of information quickly and accurately in order to match supply and demand and to transport it correctly. Such an information processing system is commonly referred to as logistics. Establishing logistics in a crisis is essential to respond during times of emergency.

Information is still required even in the case of information security incidents. Information needs to be gathered as quickly as possible on why the incident occurred, who the attacker is, what their motive is, how far into the system they have gotten, and what security holes were exploited, in order to prevent the attacker's next attack from causing even more damage. The trouble with information security incidents is that, unlike natural disasters, attackers have intentions and knowledge. Speedy decision-making and action are the greatest weapon to thwart their intentions.

A very effective means of gathering such information is to prepare in advance for the gathering of information during emergencies. Information does not just gather itself. A system is needed in order to gather the right information quickly. It cannot be easily built during emergencies. If a system is put into place for gathering information when nothing is happening, you can buy time when something does happen. And it is essential to have the kind of information systems engineering knowledge and skills that all of you have in order to build such a system.

I wrote about what would be useful in a crisis. If you keep these points in mind, I am sure they will be of some use in the future when you are suddenly transported to another world. Recently, it seems there is a trend that people getting into car accidents on the road triggers reincarnation, so even if you rarely go outdoors, please take care not to get into any traffic accidents.