CTC Deploys Netskope to Enhance Security, Usability, and Performance through Zero Trust

Within the Digital Services Business Group, the Cybersecurity Business Planning and Promotion Department leads CTC’s cybersecurity business. One of its initiatives is the Cybersecurity Laboratory (CSL), which leverages CTC’s global network to access advanced technologies early and provide fair, technically verified solutions tailored to customers’ challenges.

Today, the CTC Group consists of nine domestic companies, and including contractors and dispatched staff, approximately 21,000 users access the internal systems. The IT Infrastructure Systems Department of the Information Systems Division is responsible for everything from planning to operation and management of these internal systems. Takamichi Sugawara, General Manager of IT Infrastructure Systems Department, explains, “In the IT Infrastructure Systems Department, we support 21,000 users while outsourcing system operations, maintenance, and hardware support to group companies. As a multi-vendor company, we actively utilize products handled by each business group and participate in internal initiatives that demonstrate their effectiveness.”

Before 2018, CTC’s offices nationwide accessed systems hosted in data centers. To use cloud services, traffic had to first route through the data center via a dedicated line and then pass through an on-premises web proxy. This led to heavy internet-bound traffic, bandwidth congestion, and increased costs. To resolve this, CTC introduced SD-WAN broadband lines, connecting both to the data center and to cloud services via a cloud proxy.

Initially, the company deployed a strict content-control cloud proxy to block unauthorized communication. However, this approach posed challenges for achieving a flexible and safe hybrid work environment. Takamitsu Koreeda, from the Network Systems Section, recalls “Content-based security control required heavy operational effort and didn’t provide enough user convenience. We searched for a zero trust cloud proxy that could maximize security, usability, and performance—and arrived at the cloud-based security platform Netskope. Netskope provides high visibility, monitoring user activities and notifying managers when data is downloaded or uploaded using personal accounts. We realized this approach could balance security, convenience, and performance.”

Before Netskope, access control relied on filtering. Employees who wanted to access blocked sites had to request approval through their department head, who then forwarded the request to the IT Infrastructure Systems Department. Around 1,000 such requests were filed annually, and since it was difficult for IT to judge each case, most were simply approved. Department heads, however, struggled to monitor logs afterward, rendering filtering and whitelisting largely ineffective.

Netskope also allows pop-ups to be customized in Japanese, including images. CTC uses this feature to display pop-ups prompting employees to complete e-learning courses or to notify them when large file deletions occur in the cloud, or when files are moved from approved corporate cloud services to personal ones.

After four years of operation, Netskope now serves as a central hub for cloud services and internet access—an indispensable part of daily operations. Building on this foundation, CTC plans to further leverage Netskope to advance Activity-Based Working (ABW), enabling employees to freely choose when and where they work, while continuing its mission to become one of Japan’s leading security system integrators.