The top initial attack vectors these days happen to be vulnerability execution, phishing, brute-force and stolen credentials.
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“It’s essential for any organisation to ensure their employees are fully aware of the importance of protecting not only the company’s data and information, but also their own.”
Vinod Nair,
VP of Global Sales, General Manager
Softline India
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As October is being celebrated as International Cybersecurity Awareness Month, there’s improved collaboration between government and private industry to raise awareness about digital security and empower everyone to protect their personal data from digital forms of crime.
The month of October is dedicated to creating resources and communications for organizations to talk to their employees and customers about staying safe online. The Cybersecurity Awareness Month reminds us all that there are viable ways to keep our data secure and protected. Sticking to certain security best practices can make a huge difference to our data security.
As part of our effort to raise awareness and explore current state of the threat landscape, we had spoken to the leading cybersecurity and digital transformation solutions provider Softline. The London-headquartered Softline provides services in Aerospace & Defence, Banking, Capital Markets, Communications & Media, Health, Oil & Gas industries. The company connects nearly 1.5 lakh organisations across industry verticals with over 6,000 best-in-class IT vendors, along with its own services and solutions, to allow, facilitate, and accelerate digital transformation for the businesses of its customers.
In a special interaction with SME Channels, Vinod Nair, VP of Global Sales, General Manager for Softline India, reveal his organization’s approach to cybersecurity; the significance Softline attaches to this Cyber Security Awareness Month, changing security scape; opportunities and challenges, his forecasts for the industry and much more. Edited excerpts…
How do you see the significance of Cyber Security Awareness Month in line with creating more awareness among individuals and organisations to put cybersecurity on most priority agenda?
I think it’s essential for any organisation to ensure their employees are fully aware of the importance of protecting not only the company’s data and information, but also their own. The root cause of a cybersecurity compromise often comes from poorly-trained employees who don’t know how to identify an attack, or react to it.
This basically means that training and testing for employees are both key aspects of developing and implementing the appropriate security measures.
Usually, when you train them, employees are able to identify a cyber threat. When that happens, they should always report it immediately to the IT and risk management teams of their organisation. Sometimes is not so easy to know for sure if it is indeed a cyber attack. So, in cases like receiving an email with a suspicious link from someone you know, or a WhatsApp message from a friend asking you to send personal information or money, we recommend to always try to get in touch with those people by calling them or writing to the email address you already had before.
What are the three major steps/activities which you would like to advise for a better Cybersecurity journey?
These days, we see that the top initial attack vectors are: vulnerability execution, phishing, brute-force and stolen credentials. Advances on persistent threats and supply chain attacks are now the top threats.
- A) It is essential to train the company’s employees to understand the role they play in protecting the business. They are often the first entry point for a cyberattack – through a link in an email, a WhatsApp message, a promotion posted on an unsecure online portal, and so on. By conducting training sessions with people, they understand the risks, are better prepared to identify a threat, report it to IT, and avoid the attack.
- B) Another key step is to utilise effective and efficient practices in IT and internal control governance and management, ensuring the surface of an attack is minimised.
- C) It is the ultimate goal of each and every enterprise to safeguard their assets, and this includes IT assets. Entities need to establish multilayer security barriers, and then manage and operate them appropriately to get the desired result. Having the a technology partner to provide the company with the right security solution, implementation and maintenance is key to safeguard the business.
How are you committed to supporting organisations with your cutting-edge security solutions?
We offer a multiple variety of cybersecurity solutions from different vendors. Every solution must be the right one for each customer. But we go further than simply selling the solutions to the customer. We work closely with each of our clients to understand their issues, their worries and needs; and also to protect their business’ data, infrastructure, and people. Once we have understood exactly what their needs are, we offer the best security solution for them. We also help them to integrate the solution into their existing internal systems, and 24/7 support in managing these solutions so that they can be sure they’re protected from any threats.
