HP and Hitachi to Collaborate on Security and Privacy Research

The HP and Hitachi research collaboration will focus on twoprimary themes: authenticating users and devices to improve securityinside networks and the use of digital signatures to guarantee theauthenticity of document content.

The first theme, network security and authentication, has beenstimulated by the constant threat to IT infrastructures from, amongmany others, impersonation, computer viruses and worms. To combatthese threats, HP and Hitachi researchers are investigating how toensure that computers used to access corporate networks remotely --from home or from a hotel room, for instance -- are appropriatelyauthorized. The researchers are interested in developing technologiesfor a secure infrastructure that manages communications based on theauthentication of the integrity of both the PC and the user.

This approach will take advantage of authentication technologiessuch as Hitachi's Certificate Validation Server (CVS) and the HPProtectTools Embedded Security PC solution. The researchers willinvestigate innovative yet highly practical ways to deploy "trustedcomputing" technology in corporate settings. The goal of this projectis to significantly improve important aspects of IT infrastructuresecurity by providing a high-grade, lower-cost technology foundationfor enforceable security policy and strengthened identity across arange of devices.

The focus of the second theme, content security research, is toaddress the problem of how to guarantee the integrity of documents anddata by using digital signatures while allowing changes to be made tothem.

For example, it may be necessary to delete sensitive data such asnames and company secrets from a document for reasons of privacy orconfidentiality, yet show that the visible portion of the document isauthentic. This process is regularly applied to documents affected bythe U.S. Freedom of Information Act and similar laws in othercountries. This type of technology also would help ensure theauthenticity and integrity of audit trails, an important issue forcompanies complying with legislation such as Sarbanes-Oxley.

Content security also could be used to demonstrate the integrityof audit trails, for example to third-party auditors, while stillretaining confidentiality and privacy of the data contained within.

"This collaboration highlights HP Labs and Hitachi Labs' commoninterest in security research and our aim to bring about securesystems and infrastructure technologies for modern enterprise needs,"said Dick Lampman, senior vice president of research, HP, anddirector, HP Labs. "HP and Hitachi have had technology alliances thathave spanned 16 years, and this is an extension of our partnership tofurther leverage our research and development."

Dr. Akira Maeda, general manager of Systems DevelopmentLaboratory, Hitachi, added: "Hitachi and HP both recognize theincreasing importance of security. This collaboration is expected tocontribute to a dramatic increase in customer satisfaction bydelivering entirely new security backbones."

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading globalelectronics company with approximately 347,000 employees worldwide.Fiscal 2004 (ended March 31, 2005) consolidated sales totaled 9,027.0billion Yen ($84.4 billion). The company offers a wide range ofsystems, products and services in market sectors including informationsystems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumerproducts, materials and financial services. For more information onHitachi, please visit the company's website at www.hitachi.com.

About HP

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses andinstitutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure,global services, business and home computing, and imaging andprinting. For the four fiscal quarters ended Oct. 31, 2005, HP revenuetotaled $86.7 billion. More information about HP is available atwww.hp.com.

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