Cyber threat landscape becoming more complex, destructive, says Kaspersky

By Ashok Dixit

New Delhi [India], Nov.30 (ANI): The cyber threat landscape is becoming ever more complex and destructive, and this was highlighted very effectively during an interaction with select media on Wednesday afternoon by experts associated with Kaspersky Lab, a multinational cyber security and anti-virus provider headquartered in Moscow, Russia, and operated by a holding company in the United Kingdom.

Participating in the interaction that followed a day-long Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (ASSOCHAM)-sponsored Cyber Resilience Summit here, were Stephan Neumeier, Managing Director of Kaspersky Lab (APAC), Vitaly Kamluk, Chief Malware Expert, Russian Global Research and Analysis Team, and Shrenik Bhayani, General Manager of Kaspersky Lab (South Asia).

All three were of the unanimous view that over the past few months, governments and enterprises are increasingly coming under attack with measurable impact on reputation, revenue, operations and customers.

"In the last year, we witnessed a number of cyber breaches, malicious ransomware and economic espionage," these cyber security experts said.

When asked specifically how cyber security resilient Kaspersky Lab is in the context of what they were projecting in terms of breaches and malicious ransomware, Kamluk said, "Kaspersky Lab today is in a position to say that it is not afraid about its systems being breached, but rather is afraid to be blind to existing or new threats in this sector."

"We are always thinking of and conceiving something new to enable us to discover attackers one after the other. We have been talking about ransomware threats for the past decade or more, and are using models to counter the problem at its root," he added.

Mr. Neumeier used the occasion to highlight why Kaspersky Lab sees India as a key market for cyber security-related initiatives.

He said, "From Kaspersky's point of view, India is a key market. We are keen to make major investments both in the B2B and the B2C environment and we have the right resources to do so. The Indian market is growing very fast, and by our estimate, its GDP is around the six percent mark. Only The Philippines appears to be better in terms of the Asia-Pacific region. We feel that growth in India is real and believe that investments drive growth initiatives. Business, infrastructure and information technology sectors are growing."

He further said that currently, the Kaspersky business model in India is 70 percent consumer oriented, and added that the investment shift towards a business-oriented portfolio would take about two years.

Mr. Bhayani said he still felt that there is a lot to be done and achieved under the Kaspersky consumer portfolio in terms of expansion in retail, digital and e-commerce. He said that there is a real need to generate awareness, for example, in securing a simple instrument such as your mobile phone.

He added that real time intelligence from a service perspective requires and needs leverage.

All three panelists also emphasized on having critical infrastructure in place to counter any form of cyber security threat. They warned that not doing so could cost not only the individual, but also the nation. Bhayani said Kaspersky will also be looking at expanding its involvement with people linked with OTs or operational technologies and information technologies.

"Kaspersky has to leverage channel partners to deal with cyber attacks and cyber security in India. We have to devise business plans. Our B2C business will increasingly be focused on branding; be associated with a brand ambassador. The task in this sector will be to generate awareness, to educate on all aspects of cyber security," said Bhayani and Neumeier, adding that it could be in the areas of IOTs, Linux or even OEM software.

The panelists also said that they were quite satisfied with the support that they were getting from the Indian government, especially in terms of carrying our joint investigations, research and or prototyping etc.

"The exchange of information is ongoing. We really want to do more. On the telecom side, we would like to target tier two and tier three internet service providers and convince them to accept and sell Kaspersky products. In a couple of months, an announcement will be made; channel partners will also be announced. Kaspersky is among the top three cyber security vendors in the world. We must acknowledge and accept that spending in cyber security is increasing, awareness is increasing, and that India is a major emerging market," both said.

Earlier, at the Cyber Resilience Summit, top professionals from the government, ASSOCHAM, cyber security cells, Ernst & Young and Kaspersky Lab, addressed the most pressing issues India and the world face in cyber security, and how best to handle them.

Kaspersky Lab gave an overview of the landscape in India and the world and what to expect in the near future.

Among those who attended were Rahul Rishi (Partner, E&Y), Dr. Gulshan Rai (National Cyber Security Coordinator, Govt. of India), Mr. K.J. Alphons (Minister of State for Tourism and Electronics & IT), S.D. Rawat (Secretary General, ASSOCHAM), Brijesh Singh (IGP, Head - Maharashtra Cyber), Bharat Panchal (Senior VP and Head - Risk Management, National Payment Corporation of India), Vidur Gupta (Partner, E&Y) and Dr. Madan Oberoi (Ex-Interpol). (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI