India is witnessing a digital revolution fueled by the growth of smartphones, increasing internet penetration and a push by the Central Government to move towards a ‘Digital First’ economy. Buoyed by initiatives like Digital India India’s digital economy is anticipated to grow from 270 billion USD to around 1 trillion USD in the next 5-7 years.
Technology has been instrumental in connecting people, digitizing businesses, and acting as a catalyst to lead India in the digital era. Although technology has made our lives easier and connected, it needs to be used responsibly to ensure that our ‘personal’ data remains secure and protected from online intruders. The same holds true for enterprises since there has been a surge in new-age technologies like cloud computing, social media, etc., which are being heavily used by most IT employees. It may result in confidential data being unknowingly uploaded to a public cloud, eventually leading to huge financial losses for an enterprise.
As per a Dell report, 72% of employees are willing to share sensitive, confidential, or regulated company information if it helps them accomplish their day-to-day tasks. This paints a picture of a workforce caught between two imperatives: be productive and efficient on the job, and maintain the security of company data. Owing to this, enterprises are now following a multi-level strategy when it comes to data breaches – Prevention, Detection and Responses. Cyber-crimes, ransomware and malware attacks are on the rise and some of these attacks are more intense in nature. WannaCry ransomware attack, for example, which took place in May 2017 and is considered as one of the deadliest ransomware attacks in recent times, reportedly hit more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries within a day. As a matter of fact, India was the 3rd most affected country by WannaCry [Source]. With the advent of emerging technologies like AR, VR, Virtual Currency, Internet of Things, Big data, Cloud Technology, Blockchain, etc., such attacks may continue to rise in the coming time. Hence, it is not only the responsibility of the organization but also its employees to consider ‘Data’ as the lifeblood of their organizational growth and ensure that data is not vulnerable to any external threats.
In order to safeguard their confidential data against such attacks, enterprises have started making use of firewalls, anti-viruses, data encryption techniques, endpoint protection, etc. Besides, they have also started educating employees about the criticality of data and preventive steps to be taken in case they come across any such attack. Under such crucial circumstances, employees need to act fast and work in tandem with the IT/Infra team in order to reduce the intensity of the attack. Employees also need to take utmost care while sharing documents or important information within the organization or with its customers. Organizations that follow the Bring Your Own Device [BYOD] policy need to ensure that relevant security patches are applied on the device and there is no accidental/deliberate misuse of data by its employees.
Many hackers also use ‘phishing’ in order to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details [and money]. Phishing attacks are not only increasing, but are also evolving with time. Organizations, therefore, need to educate its employees to be more attentive while opening emails/clicking on attachments and alert the IT team if they come across any such malicious activity. To summarize, every stakeholder in this ‘IT eco-system’ needs to think about #DataSuraksha so that there is no lapse on Suraksha [Security].
With the changing nature and impact of online attacks, data management, data security and cloud providers also have also adopted a more agile approach in order to champion the cause of data security. Dell EMC, for example, has started an online campaign called #DataSuraksha where it is inviting ideas from its users on various mechanisms that help in keeping data secure. To participate in the campaign, visit Dell EMC India’s Facebook and Twitter.
As per Dell, 95% of the malware attacks occur at the endpoint and security software available in Dell Latitude 2-in-1 laptops prevents malware from even executing. Besides, Dell’s all new Air Gap Security keeps the data Airtight. Customers can opt for a great deal where they get 1-year subscription of Dell Threat Defense at Rs. 799 with Dell Latitude. With the changing business landscape, organizations need to keep up with the pace, be more agile and lead the phase of business transformation. CIO and IT Team need to undergo a shift in the thinking and they need to look beyond conventional models/practices to lead the change. CIOs need to utilize the latest technologies by using the benefits of the CAMSS Stack (Cloud, Analytics, Mobility, Security, Social) [Source].
They need to ensure that access to data is available as and when required. However, the access should not be at the cost of compromising security. A CIO has to make sure that necessary security norms are followed so that there is no financial and reputational loss. There is no denying the fact that communication technology has evolved at a very rapid pace in the past 20 years, major milestone being the emergence of Social Media. It is one channel that cannot be ignored and hence, CIO has to take a conscious decision to follow a multi-level communication with their customers and internal stakeholders so that there is no communication gap and faster resolution.
As it is rightly said – Only thing that is permanent in life is Change, it’s time that enterprises should take the right steps to implement the best practices related to data security.