With the cyber risk landscape expanding rapidly, the deployment of cybersecurity solutions has assumed greater importance. In an interview with tele.net, Check Point Software Technologies’ Harsh Marwah, country manager, and Venugopal N., director, security engineering, share their views on the evolving cybersecurity space in India…
How is the cybersecurity market evolving in India? What are the key trends?
Harsh Marwah
The country’s cybersecurity landscape has evolved tremendously, but India remains a highly fragmented market. On the one hand, there are a lot of customers who are extremely mature; and have assessed the cybersecurity challenges and taken steps to address them. On the other, there are customers in small and medium enterprises who typically require a lot of hand-holding to take them to the next level. So far, customers have been looking at fragmented solutions. If there has been a problem, the immediate reaction was to safeguard that area instead of deploying a complete overarching solution. That said, one of the key emerging trends is that hackers are looking at paths of least resistance. They will not attack the most fortified infrastructures, but will find loopholes in the areas that have largely been unaddressed, maybe an app on the mobile phone.
Venugopal N.
First, antivirus alone is not enough. It can only stop known viruses, but if we look at the attacks happening on the mobility side, every attack is a zero-day attack, an unknown attack. Second, if a user connects to free Wi-Fi, an antivirus is not going to help stop or clean the traffic generated by the mobile phone. Third, one could get a phishing email and an antivirus would not be able to stop it. The nature of mobile security is changing and we must look at it as something beyond just an antivirus solution.
How is the adoption of IoT/machine-to-machine technologies likely to impact the cybersecurity space?
Harsh Marwah
The adoption of internet of things (IoT) is leading to millions of devices getting added to the networks fairly quickly. The amount of data that will be generated as a result of this will be almost thirty times more than what we are experiencing today. This, in turn, will increase the risk surface.
Venugopal N.
The challenges involved with respect to securing the IoT landscape are humongous. There are different types of devices, different operating systems, and doing something as basic as encryption will not solve the problem. The challenge is in securing the complete IoT infrastructure and not just putting in safeguards at the sensor level. A lot of research and development efforts are going on in this space.
What are some of the challenges that you face in India as a cybersecurity solutions provider?
Harsh Marwah
As mentioned, India is a highly fragmented market. We always get the top-of-the-pyramid customers, who typically have the propensity to invest in our solutions.
If we look at the emerging trends in cyberattacks, all the breaches are highly devastating and are on such a large scale that one cannot tell who will get hit and when. So, investment by design, proactively, is something where some of the challenges still exist. The top of the pyramid is absolutely ripe for us to seize the opportunity, while the bottom of the pyramid is where we have to do a lot of work.
What are your views regarding the existing regulatory and policy framework on cybersecurity? Do you have a regulatory wishlist?
Harsh Marwah
The cybersecurity domain is changing by the hour and we must keep evolving from a policy/regulatory framework perspective. Even in this space, the market is fragmented. Some of the regulators are doing a phenomenal job, especially in the banking, financial services and insurance space, but the rest have to catch up. Regulators in each industry vertical must mandate organisations and enterprises to think through the kind of business risks they are facing. The moment they have an assessment of the risk, realisation will follow. It is more about creating awareness and sensitising the industry, which is something that the regulators should do.
How can telecom service providers contribute to a safer environment?
Harsh Marwah
Telecom players are doing a good job in bringing awareness about securing mobile phones by providing antivirus solutions. But this is not good enough. They need to understand the risk landscape around mobility and start aligning with cybersecurity partners to provide better solutions to their subscribers. In doing so, they can serve a large customer base within a short duration.
