BackMobile attacks most dominant cyber threat in India: Check Point CEO
Even as India is among the most developed countries in terms of knowledge and technology, the investment per capita in technology is probably one of the lowest in the world, said Gil Shwed, co-founder and chief executive officer of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd, a Nasdaq-listed cyber security firm.
PremiumBENGALURU : Mobile attacks are among the most dominant cyber security threats in India given the high penetration of mobile devices in the country, said Gil Shwed, co-founder and chief executive officer of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd, a Nasdaq-listed cyber security firm.
“About 60-70% of the mobile attacks are on Indian targets… It could be because of the countries that are behind these attacks or their (India’s) level of protection," Shwed said.
Even as India is among the most developed countries in terms of knowledge and technology, the investment per capita in technology is probably one of the lowest in the world, Shwed said.
“Everybody has got a mobile phone here for example but yet the level of investment is relatively low… India is a very unique environment when, on one hand, you have some of the most sophisticated technologies and people on the other hand, it's still a country that doesn't have all the resources to have the most modern infrastructure."
The appetite among Indian organisations to invest in cyber security is mixed. While there is strong adoption of cyber security technologies among the large enterprises, small and medium businesses (SMBs) are slower, Shwed said.
“The big enterprises that we speak to in India are not very different from those in other parts of the world. Some are more advanced, some are behind in terms of the level of security, but that's true with other places in the world, not just with India," he said.
India is a key market for Check Point. “It is probably in the top 10 countries… But the potential is of course 10 times bigger because it’s a giant country," Shwed said. The US and Europe are the largest markets for Check Point, each contributing about 40% to its total revenue. The remaining 20% comes from the rest of the world, primarily from Asia. “In Asia, India is probably the largest and is much bigger than China as the latter is a closed market." India is also home to one of the four technical support centres the company has globally. The three other centres are located in the US, Canada, and Israel.
In India, Check Point is targeting government organisations and large companies across sectors such as manufacturing, power, and financial services. However, Shwed believes, “the coverage is still very low in terms of the amount organisations deploy in advanced technologies."
Given the combined nature of attacks these days, the company recently launched its consolidated solution Infinity Next, which is “designed for a multi-cloud environment, internet of things (IoT) and mobile devices, and networks," Shwed said.
Asked if automation is taking away the role of cyber security experts, Shwed answered it is not. “Automation is making things better and easier and faster… There are two major challenges within cyber security. One is the shortage of skilled people but the second is speed. When you get a cyber attack, you have to get working at the speed of computers. If you need people to fight it, you have a problem because we cannot act fast enough. So we definitely need automatic tools to fight back the malware, you cannot deal with humans chasing the malware," he said.
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