Time to Escalate Digital Security in Age of AI and IoT

In an exclusive interaction with Mr. Sunil Kripalani, Senior Vice President - Global Sales & Marketing of eScan and Faiz  Askari of SMEStreet, trends regarding digital security and evolving technologies among SMEs were discussed.

Edited excerpts:

On Digital Trends

What are the key trends that you witness in the digital security space?

The government initiatives like Digital India and Make in India have encouraged businesses and large enterprises to adopt the latest technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to name a few. These technologies are now the main topic of discussion to realize benefits from technology deployments, without adding more complexity to their operations. Enterprises are already aware of the power of their data.
The recent stories around privacy concerns will make data protection solutions more demand driven for both new and legacy data consolidation. Given the boost by the government to promote digital payments, the growing technology will re-invent commerce.

These will open doors to newer business engagement models through connected devices with a potential to disrupt payments. With the advent of IoT connected devices and AI, all would add up a huge pressure on the cloud infrastructure. Thus safety, reliability and privacy will become an integral part of cybersecurity.

IoT and AI Trends

What kind of new security threats is evolving with the advent of IoT as a trend in market?

Since the demand for smart devices and other Internet of Things (IoT) devices are
increasing every day, the need for advanced security for these devices has also increased.

According to recent statistics, there will be almost 30 billion connected things in major industries and IoT will touch every role across the corporates. Simultaneously, the attacks against these devices will also rise. Besides, in 2017, IoT devices have been targeted by various botnets including the infamous Mirai botnet, which leveraged the vulnerabilities to further attack critical infrastructure. 2018 would be a mixed bag and witness the emergence of implementation of security guidelines for the development of IoT devices amongst the vendors. Furthermore, 2018 would also be the year of IoT Botnet attacks.

2018 Priorities

What are the key priorities for eScan in 2018?

With the rapid digitization of businesses, consumerization of IT and forthcoming smart city projects in India, cyber security becomes the corner stone of IT deployment for all
infrastructure projects. Cyber security is now becoming an integral part of all business IT
backbones and is crucial for sectors like BFSI, Government, Defense, Education, or even at
an individual level. One of the key trends observed in the recent past is sudden & manifold
growth of cyber-attacks such as targeted attacks, ransomware, DDoS and APTs (Advanced
Persistent Threat) attacks, that is creating havoc across India as well as globally. Also as a
pure play security solution provider we working closely with many of the SI partners and
also expanding our reach across vertical industry segments.. Hence security solutions are
essential to be part of both the facilitator as well as the user.

Cloud has become very strong, how do you plan to leverage cloud for your business?

eScan has developed cloud based “eScan Security Network” which is an integral part of our analytics system to provide real time protection against security breakouts. Any kind of cyber threat be it, viruses, spyware, adware, key loggers, rootkits, botnets, hackers, spam or
phishing, eScan is equipped with a combination of advanced technologies such as
Behavioral Analytics (PBAE Technology) to provide advanced level of detection and remediation. With its advanced web protection and anti-spam modules, eScan is fully capable of blocking malicious websites and hacking attempts that can steal banking credentials or private data from user computer. All these technology advancement uses cloud backbone to detect and mitigate cyber threats.

Which are the flagship products and services for eScan?

eScan’s EPP and EMM solutions are an integral part of eScan’s array of products. eScan MDM and Hybrid Network Support is provided by the following products: eScan Corporate 360, eScan Endpoint Security and eScan Enterprise 360. Furthermore, the new eScan Management Console (EMC) module includes a Secure Web Interface that facilitates dynamic security management of the server, endpoints and mobile devices in the corporate
network. Our R&D team works relentlessly to stay ahead of various cyber-attacks and
provide a safe and secure environment to our valued users.
6. What position does SMEs holds for eScan's overall Business?
SMEs and MSMEs in India are highly segmented and fragmented with various stages of IT
adoption. However, with the recent GST and digitization drive by the GoI, the SME and
MSME segments are adopting to IT rapidly to be compliant with Government standards.
Apart from this, the recent spate of ransomware attacks also created awareness amongst
these segments to take security implementation seriously to protect their data and assets.
eScan with its vast presence across SMB to enterprise segments in India, has already had customer bases spread from 50-15000 end points. We are further now taking steps to consolidate and expand our presence in this segment with our well-established technology and solutions in IT security.