2026.10.01
October 1, 2026 — Yokohama National University established the Center for Security Practice, Intelligence, Research, and Advanced Learning (SPIRAL), a new hub designed to integrate cybersecurity research, education, and practical operations. The center aims to address increasingly complex cyber threats, ranging from state-sponsored campaigns to attacks leveraging generative AI, through a continuous cycle of observation, analysis, innovation, and knowledge sharing.
SPIRAL builds upon more than a decade of cybersecurity research conducted at the university, particularly its large-scale observation and analysis of real-world cyberattacks. The center seeks to transform these accumulated datasets into advanced, domestic cyber intelligence capabilities by combining real attack telemetry with emerging technologies to identify, analyze, and predict novel threats. It also promotes research into next-generation cryptography, including post-quantum cryptographic technologies.
The center’s educational mission focuses on practical training. Students gain hands-on experience by participating in cybersecurity operations that help protect the university and partner organizations, while also benefiting from partnerships with institutions such as the SANS Institute.
SPIRAL is organized around four specialized laboratories: the CyRaP Lab for cybersecurity research and operations, the NexCrypt Lab for next-generation cryptography, the CyAPEX Lab for advanced practical education, and the CyLINK Lab for industry-academia-government collaboration and social implementation.
Bringing together 84 participants—including researchers and practitioners from public research institutes, private enterprises, and universities—SPIRAL aims to create a continuous “spiral” of research, education, practice, and societal implementation, thereby strengthening Japan’s cybersecurity posture and contributing to a trustworthy digital society.
