Sameer Mahapatra, country manager, India and SAARC, Aeris Communications
Amid rising cyberthreats, companies such as Aeris Communications have been helping organisations adopt a holistic approach to cybersecurity architecture that enables well-knitted integration and increased automation, making it easier for security and IT teams to respond to threats in real time. In an interview with tele.net, Sameer Mahapatra, country manager, India and SAARC, Aeris Communications, talks about evolving cyber risks and the company’s initiatives to strengthen cybersecurity architecture across organisations…
How has the role of technology evolved in protecting data and assets from cyber risks?
As technology has advanced, so have the threats and risks associated with cybersecurity. There is a growing security gap between user and provider expectations due to the growing number of potential dangers. Traditional antivirus software applications have evolved into more comprehensive security solutions that use advanced algorithms, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to detect and respond to evolving threats in real time. These technologies can analyse patterns, anomalies and behaviour to identify potential risks and take proactive measures to mitigate them. With the widespread adoption of cloud computing, providers are employing various security controls, such as encryption, access controls, and monitoring tools, to safeguard data from unauthorised access and ensure its integrity.
What role is Aeris Communications playing in strengthening cybersecurity architecture?
An organisation’s internet of things (IoT) assets are facing growing threats, including stolen SIMs, SIM swaps, unauthorised endpoint communication, and distributed denial of service attacks.
Aeris Communications offers secure connectivity solutions for IoT devices. Aeris IoT Security Management offers an extensive set of capabilities at the SIM and network levels to secure data-in-transit towards application servers. The IoT Security Management solution helps the organisation gain visibility and take the right action at the right time. Continuous real-time traffic monitoring of the network combined with advanced IoT device network behaviour analysis lets the organisation rapidly detect security issues and breaches in their cellular IoT devices with minimal human intervention.
The Aeris Intelligent Security Centre (AISC) detects device behaviour anomalies and continuously monitors the organisation’s IoT security procedures to help it find and close security gaps. End-to-end life cycle management allows the company to immediately control and contain possible breaches, eliminate data exfiltration activities, and suspend or block compromised or hacked devices.
Aeris works very closely with stakeholders in the IoT ecosystem and has collaborated with experts for strengthening the cybersecurity architecture. We have created a proprietary survey tool to measure an organisation’s readiness in mission-critical areas. This can help project managers in getting individual scores for business and technical requirements and understand relative scores of their competitors in the industry.
We offer a secure network for important assets and data.
How is the proliferation of 5G and IoT impacting cybersecurity? What are the company’s initiatives in this domain?
The IoT ecosystem is expanding rapidly with the deployment of 5G networks. The combination of 5G and IoT creates a complex ecosystem with interconnected devices, networks and applications. This complexity introduces new security challenges.
The proliferation of 5G and IoT has highlighted the importance of integrating security in the design element of these technologies. Although these advanced technologies enable seamless data transfer due to their enhanced bandwidth, enhancing user experience and device connectivity, security considerations must be embedded throughout the development life cycle of IoT devices, networks and applications. This includes implementing secure protocols, encryption mechanisms, and device management practices to mitigate potential vulnerabilities and ensure a more secure IoT ecosystem.
The design, variety and scale of IoT devices require a different security strategy in line with an organisation’s IT network. Aeris Communications emphasises the importance of data security and privacy in IoT deployments. We believe that every connected business should have a strong IoT security management to protect, detect and respond in real time to looming cybersecurity threats as the traditional IT security does not work for IoT.
Organisations need a different kind of security for their IoT devices. With IoT network security from Aeris, our clients are no longer stuck in the black box. They gain device-level visibility and improve the effectiveness of their vulnerability scans, rapidly detect potential threats, and identify any compromised devices and breach locations.
What are the security challenges faced by businesses? How does Aeris help solve these?
Businesses now have to deal with a considerably more complicated range of security issues. Lightweight and resource-constrained devices make it difficult to implement endpoint protection for IoT network security. Uncontrolled deployment environments expose locations which are inaccessible to organisations that deploy solutions, in turn, increasing security gaps.
The higher the scale of deployment of any transformative technology, the greater the vulnerability. Given that more devices mean more risk, the extent of diverse products used by businesses and consumers increases an organisation’s threat susceptibility.
As a top provider of IoT solutions and services, we think that organisations require a comprehensive approach that includes implementing robust cybersecurity policies and procedures, regularly updating and patching systems, conducting employee awareness and training programmes, and recognising real-time threat intelligence patterns and data breaches. The AISC provides behavioural analysis, continuous non-intrusive monitoring, and the ability to spot malicious actors or offline devices. Aeris IoT security helps clients get all the insights they need to take well-informed decisions in real time.
What are the upcoming trends in the cybersecurity space?
The digital revolution has propelled corporations, organisations and even governments to turn to computerised systems to manage their daily operations. As a result, cybersecurity has become a top priority to protect data from various online attacks and any unauthorised access.
Zero Trust is an approach that requires verification of every user, device, or system attempting to access resources, regardless of its location or network. It assumes that no user or device should be inherently trusted, even if they are inside the organisation’s network perimeter. AI and ML technologies are increasingly being integrated into cybersecurity solutions as they can analyse large volumes of data, detect patterns, and identify anomalies or potential threats in real time. IoT security also helps in implementing robust authentication mechanisms, secure communication protocols, and device management practices to protect against vulnerabilities and prevent unauthorised access or manipulation of IoT devices and data.
As technology continues to advance and cyberthreats evolve, the industry will witness solutions that can address emerging challenges and enhance the overall security measures.
What are the company’s future plans for creating safe and integrated cybersecurity infrastructure?
Aeris is dedicated to offering a secure network for important assets and data. The company conducts comprehensive risk assessments to identify potential cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities. This process helps us understand the risks associated with infrastructure, and make informed decisions about implementing appropriate security measures. The recently launched AISC provides continuous non-intrusive monitoring, behavioural analysis, and the ability to detect offline devices or rogue actors. Even when encryption is implemented at the application layer, a network-based monitoring solution such as AISC can verify that communication is happening over encrypted channels. It is far easier to deploy and there is nothing extra to install or configure, like other agent or agentless “snap-and-tap” IoT security solutions. It is also more scalable, no matter how small or large an organisation’s IoT deployment is now or will be in the future, and no matter what type of IoT devices you need to monitor. Another benefit of using AISC is that it provides greater visibility into an organisation’s IoT security. It helps to differentiate what is vulnerable (that is, susceptible to attack) from what is/has been impacted (that is, attacked), especially for IoT devices where the scale of deployment can easily reach tens of thousands of devices.
Aeris also offers a full suite of IoT security features such as account/SMS lock, static/dynamic private IP address, non-dialable numbers, standard access point name, virtual private network, ConnectionLockTM, and Cloud Connect. Together with AISC, these features help to safeguard an organisation’s IoT devices by way of prevention, detection and rapid response.
