In today’s age where most companies have a corner in cyberspace, none are safe from the ever increasing incidences of cyber attacks. Andheri East Inc believes that the region is severely compromised as most of the companies here are SMEs working on tight budget.
ANDHERI EAST UNDER THREAT
Industrial hub Andheri East stands more chances of cyber warfare as it has many medium sized firms, MNCs, SEEPZ, MIDC etc. Karishma Mookhey, founder partner of Andheri East-based Institute of Information Security, said, “Most of these are SMEs are constrained by budget and resources that prevent serious investments. Although, now, there is an increasing demand for products services and training.”
Ameya Sinha, an IT security auditor based out of Sakinaka, says, “There is a lack of professionals in the information security field. As of now there are only 60 or so IT security auditors and no professional training institutes. Most companies in Andheri East have their financial and other data on the cloud but only a few have employed even 50 percent security.”
She further says, “Nationalised and big banking companies, MNCs, hotels etc in Andheri East have a big budget for this and hence a solid security system. However, in Andheri East, Sakinaka and Chandivali areas, most of the companies here are small enterprises, consider them unnecessary expenses. For a system that is at least 70-90 percent efficient, you need a minimum of Rs 1 to 3 lakhs excluding the implementation costs.”
Admitting to it, Mookhey says, “There is still a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of end user awareness and also to ensure that senior management takes risk-aware business decisions from an information security perspective.”
According to a study, ‘The State of Information Security Survey – India, 2013’, conducted by PricewateHouse Coper, a lag was reported in the security strategy around new technologies including mobile devices, cloud and social media in these organisations. The report is based on an analysis of replies from 738 respondents from 17 sectors across India.
Another problem that the report pointed out was that the adoption of new technologies is faster in India than implementation of security for them as only 46 percent of respondents have a mobile security strategy and strategies for the cloud (31 percent) and social media (37 percent) show delay in adoption rates.
Recognising some of the information security threats that firms today are facing, IJ Sundaram, a Chandivali based expert on intellectual property and security, says, “The threats today are much bigger as most of them have their various HR information on the net. Take any company and you can find almost any info on it available free online.
Although one school of thought may say it is good, there are big reasons to believe that implementation of technology in the name of transparency has, to a large extent, backfired. “It has become easier to rob people, companies, banks and employees of their life savings, information, even ideas and concepts.”
He adds, “Earlier there were individuals hacking into personal accounts, now there are cyber crime syndicates breaking into company cyber space accounts.
According to some media reports, it was revealed that of about 7,000 government websites in India, only 3,192 have been audited for information technology security. The National Informatics Centre hosts most of these government sites which are given a security certificate before being hosted.
Yash Kadakia, head of Security Brigade, a government-empanelled security auditor, informed, “Nearly half the government websites are vulnerable to cyber attacks. Most of them do not have proper security checks in place,”
Though government officials deny any vulnerability, their data shows that 774 government websites have reportedly been hacked in the previous five years.
Sundaram adds that the security lapses have also resulted in financial losses to the exchequer. “I have the report from the Reserve Bank of India which says that between 2009 and 2011, 489 e-fraud cases were registered, which led to a loss of about Rs 28.46 crore. The CBI too recorded cyber crime related financial fraud cases by February 2012 of up to Rs 43.92 crore. This is despite the Department of Electronics and Information Technology allocating Rs 45.2 crore towards cyber security in 2012-2013.”
GREAT TIDINGS
However, the PwC report did bring out some positive findings related to India Inc’s preparedness against cyber crimes.
Talking about the positive change, Sivarama Krishnan, executive director, PwC India, said, “The smartest organisations in the country are bringing together strategy, technology and market intelligence in a way that stacks them at the top of the information security league.”
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