Industrial Automation Magazine India

High level of digital adoption makes businesses vulnerable to cyber-attacks

Published on : Tuesday 02-03-2021

Zakir Hussain Rangwala, CEO, BD Software Distribution Pvt Ltd.

As a young enterprise, what was the rationale of launching the company as a distributor rather than own solutions?
I have been in the channel and distribution business since 1993, I am well versed with the Industry and have strong expertise and network with distributors and partners, and hence, becoming a national Virtual Address Descriptor (VAD) was a very organic move. Additionally, the entire team of BD Software, has strong market experience in channel setup, and sales. Secondly the ambition to cover India and neighbouring countries with quality products and solutions which are affordable and with necessary support, pushed me to launch a company as a VAD.
 
No enterprise is free from cyber-attacks today. How effective are the remedies available?
Yes, there isn’t any enterprise free from cyber-attacks in today’s time. But that does not mean that we do not deploy any security infrastructure in place. Like they say, it’s better to be safe than sorry! There are several Indian and international tools for Cybersecurity with a proven track record to curb a given situation. If an enterprise uses good tools and products that are available, worldwide and proven, the chances of cyber-attacks can be minimised to a very negligible or almost no incident in some cases.
 
BD Software has a large number of principals. What is the basis of deciding the right solution? 
We chose our solutions based on the need of our markets and all our products complement each other. For example, the customer will start with endpoint security, then go for DLP, will use MDM for his sales team, will also then need backup solutions for his data, and will need to archive his emails and so on. The same customer can use all our solutions to save their enterprises from cyber-attacks too.
 
How do these solutions work when companies are already following some form of preventive measures?

Today’s glut of digital data means advanced cybersecurity measures are more crucial. With cyber-attacks occurring every 14 seconds, firewalls, antivirus software, anti-spyware software and password management tools must all work in harmony to outwit surprisingly creative cybercriminals. Understanding this, every small or big company requires a better and robust solution. In technology, upgrading to a better solution is always on the card of every customer. All our solutions are proven leaders in the market at the right value, which saves financial and reputation damage for the customer too. 
 
With Work from Home, the threats have multiplied manifolds. Is there a holistic solution?
There never was and is any solution that can give holistic protection to any cybersecurity architecture. It is a basket of multiple solutions that needs to be applied to minimise the threats that have multiplied manifolds.
 
Are there any specific solutions for the discrete manufacturing and process industries? 
Manufacturing is the third most likely sector to experience a data breach, after BFSI (Banking, Insurance and Financial services). But it’s the least protected sector. With India entering the Industry 4.0 revolution, manufacturing businesses have adopted several new age technologies and have gone more connected than ever. The high level of digital adoption makes businesses vulnerable to many attacks. To ensure a seamless process there are several solutions right from data protection, employee monitoring to anti-virus and firewall, depending upon the nature of the business. 
 
What is the significance of the most recent strategic partnership with Zecurion?
The evolution of the Indian market has made cybersecurity an increasing priority for organisations in the region. With ‘Work From Home’ culture and rapid attacks with compromised security network architectures, corporates are especially vulnerable and don’t have enough manpower to triage and respond to the number of security incidents. Managing data and securing the data in rest and motion has become of utmost importance, which is where employee monitoring solutions are needed. Zecurion – one of our partners gives both – DLP and User Behaviour modules. We believe Zecurion will be a very useful tool in mid enterprise, SMB markets.
 
India is traditionally a price sensitive market, especially the SMEs. Are there any special products tailor-made for this segment?
The Indian SME market is well aware about the importance of Cyber solutions and also the cost attached to it. Matching the mind-set, all our products are priced reasonably. We understand the Indian buyer and have priced all our products where the customers get value for money.
 
India is a huge country. How effective is the coverage in terms of reach and spread?
We have covered most of the Tier 1 cities and are currently establishing our outreach in the Tier 2 & 3 cities. Our promotions are continuous in areas where we are physically not present, so we get necessary leads and partner enquiries. By the end of 2021, we aim to be present in over 100 cities of India.