Akamai Technologies navigating India's Cybersecurity Landscape while aiding organizations to eliminate threats and strengthen their infrastructure

Leading content delivery network (CDN) and cloud service provider, Akamai Technologies was established in 1998 and is recognized for streamlining the transmission of digital content, resulting in quicker load times, enhanced security, and dependable performance for websites and online services. With more than 4,000 locations worldwide, Akamai's global network enables companies to provide people with flawless digital experiences while reducing online dangers. Akamai’s cybersecurity solutions protect against DDoS attacks, data breaches, and other online threats, making the web safer for businesses and users. In a chat with VARINDIA, Dean Houari, Director of Security Technology and Strategy, APJ, Akamai Technologies discusses about the current state of cybersecurity in India, challenges faced by businesses, the importance of adopting advanced security measures like Zero Trust, and the potential risks associated with emerging technologies, emphasizing the need for robust solutions.

The cybersecurity industry in India  
Delving deep about the current cybersecurity landscape, Dean points out, “As organizations across all verticals conduct their business online, attackers seek to disrupt and degrade customer experience and the reputation of these businesses for financial gain. Several factors, including the use of IoT, the adoption of cloud technology, have contributed to the country's growing cybersecurity threat landscape. At the same time, the cybersecurity industry has evolved substantially over the last decade. Businesses that traditionally invested in security technologies such as antivirus and firewalls have started realizing the importance of new technologies and solutions that predict data breaches.”

He also says, “To tackle breaches at source, the use of zero-trust security frameworks, which require users to authenticate their identity and access privileges before accessing resources, will not only increase in adoption but will become an anchor point in security strategies along with other security frameworks. Additionally, it is critical that organizations adopt the right DDoS security solution to detect and mitigate attacks at scale, while having the right teams to monitor such attacks in order to minimize such attacks.” 

To defend against sophisticated cyber-attacks 
To stop cybercriminals and defend against the cyber-attacks, organizations need to firstly implement security technologies that are non-disruptive to their IoT and OT environments and also build a specialized threat hunting capability working round the clock to find and contain threats that may already be inside the networks.  Dean comments, “Defending against sophisticated cyber-attacks in these types of environments requires addressing common internal limitations:

Legacy systems: OT and IoT systems are often built on legacy or proprietary technology that lacks the necessary security features to implement a security model like Zero Trust. Implementing security controls such as installing a security client agent on these systems can be costly and time-consuming, and in some cases, may not be possible at all.

Limited visibility: OT and IoT systems often operate in isolated environments with limited connectivity to the rest of the network, making it challenging to discover, monitor and control access to these systems. 

Lack of skilled personnel: Implementing and maintaining a robust security posture across diverse IT and OT environments requires specialized skills and knowledge, which may not be available in-house. This limits the organization’s ability to detect and respond to various types of security incidents.” 

The potential risks associated with the adoption of emerging technologies  
Talking about the emerging technologies like Generative AI, Dean says, “Generative AI tools like ChatGPT have taken the world by storm. However, the potential privacy risk ChatGPT poses for users and businesses has come to the fore. As AI capabilities continue to evolve, technology companies are getting locked into a fierce arms race. The problem is, this race is fuelled by personal data. Additionally, the number of enterprises who see the value in making full use of the cloud to leverage new technologies such as ChatGPT is growing. While ChatGPT is probably still not at the stage where it is “revolutionizing” cyber-attacks, it certainly has the ability to make attacks more efficient, accurate and impactful. We are already seeing the use of ChatGPT to improve phishing and social engineering attacks, by enabling phishing operators to more efficiently combine the large volume usually associated with generic phishing attacks with the more precise but high yield of spear phishing. ChatGPT’s ability to mimic language to a high degree of fluency, and incorporate the idioms of nationality, will surely be exploited by hackers for phishing attacks via email or text. Currently, the stilted language used in these attacks makes them easy to spot, but ChatGPT could make it easier for criminals to send out emails that come across as trustworthy and authoritative. The utility could also be used by hackers to create malicious code.”

The biggest challenges faced by Indian businesses  
Indian businesses are actively implementing measures to safeguard their operations. According to Dean, “However, we are currently facing a cyber pandemic, and it is inevitable that systems will eventually be infected. The attackers merely require one compromised endpoint to enter the network and maneuver through it. Therefore, it is crucial for businesses to establish protective measures to block these attacks from gaining entry to valuable data once their network has been breached. Lack of awareness and cuts in IT budget spending can be among the biggest challenges for Indian businesses. Even today, many Indian organizations do not have a separate and dedicated budget structure or plan in place for cybersecurity.”

At Last 
In his concluding words Dean says, “Akamai Hunt can bring suitable solutions for organizations with features like Real time alerts, unique dataset, and big data analysis. It enables businesses to eliminate threats in their network, find and virtually patch vulnerabilities, and harden infrastructure to further reduce risk in the environment. In the digital transformation era, cybersecurity is no longer a nice-to-have but a must-have for organizations of all sizes and sectors. The growing importance of cybersecurity is driven by the need to protect digital assets and data, maintain business continuity, comply with regulatory requirements, and preserve the trust of customers and stakeholders.”