PremiumAn increasing number of companies are using the cloud, to leverage analytics and use automation, with an average enterprise today having 900 applications. And, as the new avenues of intrusion open up, businesses are faced with all-new security threats
The past year has witnessed a 600% increase in malware attacks, resulting in widespread data breaches. As we settle into the new normal of working from home, secure networks used by enterprises have gone from hundreds to thousands across locations to help employees and customers access data.
Maintaining this perimeter is a shared responsibility. In the latest episode of Virtual Workplace 2.0,‘Cloud security is a shared responsibility–who is managing your share?’, powered by Tata Communications and Livemint, industry experts and leaders came together to understand the intricacies of cloud literacy and how organizations can build a secure digital infrastructure to prioritize data protection.
An increasing number of companies are using the cloud, to leverage analytics and use automation, with an average enterprise today having 900 applications. And, as the new avenues of intrusion open up, businesses are faced with all-new security threats. “ If we technically analyse the last one-year data, the top five most repeating cyberattacks have been ransomware, phishing, crypto jacking and IoT attacks, resulting in data breach, data loss and potential reputation loss," said Priya Kanduri, chief technology officer (CTO) and vice president, cybersecurity services, Happiest Minds.
There are many tools available to prevent attacks, such as anti-malware or anti-phishing softwares, but organizations are still at risk. “I feel there are three reasons for this. First, there are too many technologies and solutions making it hard to make the right choice. Second, an organization will find it impossible to constantly monitor work processes owing to a shortage of people, skills and automation. Also, there are too many devices in one organization," she added.
Changing times demand a change in the way we perceive security, more so when more and more companies are moving their operations to the cloud. “If the security threat was earlier at five on a scale of 1 to 100, now it has increased beyond 100. There’s no choice for any company not to adopt cloud, otherwise work from home would not have happened. It’s not just the employees, but also customers that we need to think about," said Rajarshi Puryakastha, head, pre-sales, Mecaa and India, Tata Communications.
The insurance industry has leveraged digital tools effectively—over 93% of new customers have been acquired digitally during the pandemic compared to just 60% in 2019 and dependency of physical verifications has been replaced with digital KYCs. The industry is also extensively making use of AI portals and chat bots.
“Over the last two years, the regulator has actually supported a transformatory way of doing business. Today, about 10-15% of the organization’s workforce in IT and compliance is only looking at meeting security needs. Spending on compliance has increased drastically over the last two years. And the wave of regulatory changes and digitization is continuing. So, it is necessary for all financial institutions to be technology driven to catch up with the change," said Byju Joseph, CTO, Future Generali Insurance.
“Digital transformation without security transformation is not going to take us anywhere. Cybersecurity is on the agenda of regulators, government as well as the board. But what is different for the life insurance industry is that we carry financial and medical information of the customers which we need to keep for the long term. It is an added responsibility," said Kirti Patil, joint president and CTO, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company Ltd.
“There is a dire shortage of skills and the number of people who have an understanding of these technologies is limited. We hear about some kind of ransomware attack every 8 minutes. The volume of data and the ability to process the data has to be done fast and seamlessly. Therefore, you need guys who understand what they are doing," said Rahul Monie, CTO and CISO, Absolut Data-Intelligent Analytics.
