January Issue 2021 by Enterprise IT World

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FOR THE CIOs. BY THE CIOs. JANUARY 2021

THE NEW WILL BE DRIVEN

BY DIGITAL

AND CLOUD With business are opening up post Covid-19, cyber security is becoming major concern for the Industry. It is therefore offering opportunity for the partners to excel. SME Channels spoke to Sunil Sharma, MD – Sales, Sophos India & SAARC to know about their strategy. P/18

SUNIL SHARMA

MD – Sales, Sophos India & SAARC

EDITOR’S LETTER

FUTURE IS HYBRID WORK

Hello Friends.

The pandemic of Covid-19 is about the recede from the earth. Offices have started to opening up. The daily laborers are called back to their workplaces but the corporates are seeing the advantage of remote work. Barring some of the workforce they are asking other people to stay back and work from remote locations. Organizations are deriving benefits of economy. They are looking at the cost to the company is quite reduced and productivity is not compromised. However, the pandemic is yet to over completely. So the organizations are in a peculiar state of what to do. In the education sector, special the schools and colleges have opened up but the pupils are invited to come with a written permission of parents. If the parents are not willing to send their kids, the institutes are not bound to bring them back to the school or college. They are supporting the kids with video conference. Similarly, the offices have to take a que from the education sector. The other thing is that massive automation and cyber security are two important technologies that the CIOs should have to look at for secure social

NEXT MONTH SPECIAL

distancing. Automation of course different to different companies and organizations need to find out the right fit. Apart from physical automation, they have to bring in automation in the software layer using some sort of RPA. The other thing which is very important is the cyber security. Smallest of the small companies and largest of the large companies have been attacked by Ransomware or being hacked. It says that the Covid-19 boosts the business of the hackers. They can understand the situation of all employee’s movements and hybrid networks, etc. in 2020, The National Security Agency (NSA) issued a cybersecurity advisory warning that virtual private networks (VPNs) could be vulnerable to attacks if not properly secured. So if the organizations are thinking about the worst is over – may be covid is over but cyber covid just started. They have to heavily invest into BI and AI to ward off the unsolicited inflow of traffic into. DLP is another area where the CIOs are looking at seriously. So over all the companies need to look having right solutions now that before. Of course CIOs are under pressure from various sides. They are more becoming analysts now than the technology guardians of the enterprises.

S A N J AY M O H A PAT R A S A N J AY @ A C C E N T I N F O M E D I A . C O M

COVER STORY

SUPPLEMENT

CLOUD WORLD

QUOTES FROM TOP CIOS

The next issue is dedicated to Digital Journey of the CIOs through cloud strategy. We would like to take feedback from the CIOs and OEMs and create our judgment on the same.

The supplement story of the magazine would have relevant quotes from the top CIOs in India.

PLUS

Interviews and Case Studies

Catch interviews, guest articles and case studies of recent applications from the Industry stakeholders, IT/ITES Vendors and IT leaders and CIOs from the Enterprise IT World CIO Community.

Send in your inputs to sanjay@accentinfomedia.com 4

ENTERPRISE IT WORLD JANUARY 2021

CONTENTS V O L U M E 0 5 | I S S U E 1 0 | JANUARY 2021 | W W W . E N T E R P R I S E I T W O R L D . C O M

FOR THE CIOs. BY THE CIOs.

Publisher: Sanjib Mohapatra Chief Editor: Sanjay Mohapatra Managing Editor: Anisha Nayar Dhawan Sub Editor: Pooja Jain, Nidhi Shail Designer: Shadab Khan Web Designer: Vijay Bakshi, Sangeet Technical Writer: Manas Ranjan Lead Visualizer: DPR Choudhary MARKETING Marketing Manager: Vaishali Shukla SALES CONTACTS Delhi 6/102, Kaushalya Park, Hauz Khas New Delhi-110016 Phone: 91-11-41055458 E-mail: info@accentinfomedia.com

INTERVIEW

EDITORIAL OFFICE Delhi: 6/103, (GF) Kaushalya Park, New

THE NEW NORMAL WILL BE DRIVEN BY DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND CLOUD ADOPTION

Delhi-110016, Phone: 91-11-41657670 / 46151993 info@

With business are opening up post Covid-19, cyber security is becoming major concern for the Industry. It is therefore offering opportunity for the partners to excel. SME Channels spoke to Sunil Sharma, MD – Sales, Sophos India & SAARC to know about their strategy.

SECURITY: /21 Fighting NationState Cyber Adversaries: Wait Until it Hits or Rethink the Approach

Printed, Published and Owned by Sanjib Mohapatra Place of Publication: 6/103, (GF) Kaushalya Park, Hauz Khas New Delhi-110016

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Printed at Karan Printers, F-29/2, 1st floor, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-2, New Delhi 110020, India. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced without the prior written permission from the publisher. Subscription: Rs.200 (12 issues) All payments favouring: Accent Info Media Pvt. Ltd.

Editorial~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 04 News~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 06

CISO TALK

SECURITY

“Three-layer defensive measures can protect your business from cyber-attacks”

“Sophos Uncovers New Delivery and Evasion Techniques Used by Agent Tesla To Bypass Security”

KAZI NAZRUL ISLAM

accentinfomedia.com

INTERVIEW

NETWORKING

MICHEL ROBERT

ARAFAT YOUSEF

“Our Differentiator Lies in our NaaS Platform, Infiny, and our Partner Strategy”

“How the pandemic is challenging your IT Network”

JANUARY 2021 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD

ITWORLD

ROUND UP

Schneider introduces EcoStruxure Expert B Y S A N J AY @ A C C E N T I N FO M E D I A . C O M

Schneider Electric, the global leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, unveiled its vision for universal automation and the first of its kind, EcoStruxure Automation Expert, a new category of software-centric industrial automation system. Through this launch, the company aims to accelerate its drive to help customers unlock the full potential of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and unleash a new wave of innovation by championing the widespread adoption of open automation standards. Over the past decade, the Indian manufacturing sector has been transitioning towards Industry 4.0. However, the pandemic has further accelerated the adoption of technology across sector. According to Business Wire, the Industrial Automation market in India will see an Incremental Growth of $2.58 Billion during 2020-2024. But, realizing this promise is limited 6

ENTERPRISE IT WORLD JANUARY 2021

by closed and proprietary automation platforms that restrict the adoption of best-of-breed technologies that are expensive to upgrade and maintain. Speaking at the launch, Meenu Singhal, Vice President-Industry Business, Schneider Electric India said, “Although the latest industrial automation architectures have served us well so far, their closed proprietary infrastructure makes it difficult to rapidly and more effectively deploy advanced technologies. As such, we need a model that can provide agility and resilience through the entire value chain in terms of maximizing the potential of next-generation industries. Our IoT-enabled EcoStruxure Automation Expert is a universal framework that helps eradicate technology boundaries and ensure safe operations through a plug and produce approach.”

D ATA SCIENCE

Gartner Says 10% of Workers Will Seek to Trick AI-Driven Tracking Systems by 2023

ITWORLD // NEWS BRIEF

Netmagic Strengthens Partnership with Google Cloud India as Certified Managed Services Provider

Netmagic (an NTT company), India’s leading Managed Hosting and Multi-Cloud Hybrid IT solution provider, today announced that it has elevated its strategic alliance with Google Cloud and has been recognized with the Managed Services Provider (MSP) status, an initiative under the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program. With this partnership, Netmagic aims to help enterprises optimize their business workloads on the Google Cloud and accelerate their transformation journey. Enterprises are embracing cloud infrastructure to power business critical applications, aiming to balance – costs, performance, control and security. With over 20 years of deep understanding of the unique business demands of Indian enterprises, strong market reach and robust technological backbone, Netmagic is

CIO

uniquely positioned to support enterprises with enabling cloud-led transformation for enterprises across industries including – Media, Fintech, digital native organisations and more. The company’s solution offerings are focused on delivering a seamless and secure modernization of mission critical IT infrastructure, ensuring scalable performance for advanced applications and voluminous data. Last year, Netmagic had announced that it partnered with Google Cloud to create a Centre of Excellence (CoE), which will serve as a multi-disciplinary customer showcase hub to develop and deliver solutions, leveraging Google Cloud’s modern application platform, Anthos. Anthos delivers consistent development and operations experience across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

OpenText announced that Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (Tata Power-DDL), a leading power utility serving a populace of 7 million in North Delhi, India’s national capital, has implemented OpenText Documentum as part of their digital transformation journey and response to COVID-19. With help from Documentum, Tata Power-DDL was able to automate complex, information-centric processes, maintain productivity and keep critical business moving forward during the pandemic. Tata Power-DDL is a joint venture between Tata Power, India’s largest integrated power company, and the Government of NCT of Delhi. When the pandemic struck approximately 70% of their employees shifted to remote work. The company needed to ensure employees, customers, regulators and external stakeholders retained access to mission-critical content and business processes.

EVENTS

18-19 FEB 2021

24-26 MAR 2021

2nd Global AI Summit and Awards Vigyan Bhavan, Rajpath, Rajpath Area, Central Secretariat

FinTech India and Blockchain Summit

Convergence India 2021

SATTE 2021

NEW DELHI, DELHI

Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited Collaborates with OpenText

ENTERPRISE IT WORLD JANUARY 2021

PRAGATI MAIDAN, NEW DELHI

PLOT NO. 25, INDIA EXPO CENTRE & MART, 27,28,29, KNOWLEDGE PARK II GREATER NOIDA, UTTAR PRADESH

NEWS BRIEF // IT WORLD

NEC, ParityQC Collaborate to Develop Highlyscalable, Practical Quantum Computers

S/HE SAID IT

RAMAN SHARMA

VP PRODUCT AND PROGRAMS MARKETING, DIGITALOCEAN

“There’s no denying that technology played a major role in 2020. However, what we found most inspiring was how the individuals and community behind the code rose to the occasion.’’

NEC Corporation and ParityQC today announced that they have started collaborating in the field of quantum annealing, a method of quantum computing. NEC will be the first company worldwide implementing the ParityQC architecture for quantum annealing devices. The collaboration entails NEC implementing the ParityQC Architecture, ParityQC’s new paradigm on how to solve optimization problems on a quantum computer, into its own superconducting parametron quantum devices(3). This will pave the way for highlyscalable, practical quantum annealers capable of solving large-scale combinatorial optimization problems such as financial portfolio optimization and manufacturing planning. NEC aims to develop such quantum annealers for practical use by 2023.

QUICK BYTE ON

The combination of ParityQC’s software, which ensures a compact encoding of industry-relevant problems, and the architecture’s capabilities allow organizations to benefit by performing larger computations. Realizing quantum devices using the ParityQC architecture provides a path to resolving challenges on the route to practical large scale quantum annealers. NEC, partially supported by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), is now developing quantum annealers using superconducting parametron qubits and working on increasing the number of all-toall connected qubits, with an aim to realize practical machines by 2023. NEC will apply the results of the collaboration with ParityQC to the ongoing project with NEDO.

“As we now expand public cloud support even further with the general availability of Veeam Backup for Google Cloud Platform, we have simultaneously expanded our partnership with Google Cloud, enabling Veeam to jointly engage customers through the Google Cloud Marketplace. D A N N Y A L L A N , C H I E F T E C H N O LO G Y O F F I C E R A N D S E N I O R V I C E P R E S I D E N T O F P R O D U CT S T R AT E G Y AT V E E A M .

SECURITY

Gartner, Innovation Insight for Extended Detection and Response, March 2020 “Two of the biggest challenges for all security organizations are hiring and retaining technically savvy security operations staff, and building a security operations capability that can confidently configure and maintain a defensive posture as well as provide a rapid detection and response capacity. Mainstream organizations are often overwhelmed by the intersectionality of these two problems.” JANUARY 2021 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD

ITWORLD // NEWS BRIEF

HP Announces new Latex printer portfolio

IBM Unveils Elite Hybrid Cloud Build Team Dedicated to Partner Ecosystem IBM unveiled its highly-specialized Hybrid Cloud Build Team to support the migration and modernization of ecosystem partner products, services, and other offerings across open hybrid cloud environments. Following the successful model of the IBM Data Science and AI Elite Team and the recent introduction of the IBM AIOps Elite Team, both focused on artificial intelligence, the Hybrid Cloud Build Team concentrates on helping partners update their workloads for deployment on premises, in the cloud, or any environment of their choosing. A recent IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) study that included responses from over 5,000 executives globally across industries found that the adoption of hybrid cloud

EXECUTIVE

– the combination of public clouds, private clouds, and on-premises IT – is expected to grow by 47% in the next three years and the average organization will be using six hybrid clouds. The report notes that the value derived from a full hybrid, multicloud platform technology and operating model is 2.5 times the value derived from a single platform, single cloud vendor approach. “In addition to recent changes that include new programs, additional funding, and a simplified ecosystem approach, IBM’s Hybrid Cloud Build Team demonstrates a commitment to and investment in our ecosystem partners like never before,” Willie M. Tejada, IBM Chief Developer Advocate and GM ISV/Build Ecosystem.

HP Inc. has introduced a range of new Latex large format print solutions to help print service providers diversify their offerings and meet more challenging customer needs. After a year of business disruption across the large format industry, the HP Latex 700 and 800 series brings a suite of features that enable PSPs to be more agile, tackle ambitious projects and take on the highest value work. The new portfolio also delivers fast workflows that help businesses hit deadlines, while sharpening their sustainability edge. “When you think about HP Latex, imagine the unique ability to say yes to every customer request, regardless of fast-changing schedule or application demands. Help meet deadlines with undisputable operator and environmental safety, as, with HP Latex, every signage & decor decision becomes a sustainable one,” said Guayente Sanmartin, General Manager, Large Format Business, HP. “The new Latex 700 and 800 portfolio will allow PSPs to win big by navigating customer challenges in the next normal and embracing more ambitious projects – safe in the knowledge their work will deliver.” The new HP Latex range consists of four devices – the HP Latex 700 and 800, and the HP Latex 700W and 800W which offer white ink capability for the first time in this category. It is the whitest white ink available on the market that does not yellow over time, enabling print businesses to produce neater outlines and add more contrast to darker supports.

MOVEMENT

Synechron Appoints Susanne Guntermann as Head of Synechron Netherlands.

Vehere appoints Vipul Kumra as Director of Systems Engineering

Redis Labs Names Taimur Rashid Chief Business Development Officer

Pure Storage appoints Ajay Singh as the Chief Product Officer

NTT appoints Abhijit Dubey as Global Chief Executive Officer, NTT Ltd. from 1 April 2021

Commvault appoints Rachel Ler as VP & GM, APJ

10 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD JANUARY 2021

NEWS BRIEF // IT WORLD

BOOK

SHELF

Implementing ISO 27001 Simplified

GLOBAL UPDATE

DEEPAK KALAMBKAR

Versa Networks Records Strongest Year Ever of Rapidly Growing Versa Networks announced a record year for 2020 which saw sales nearly double with hundreds of thousands of sites and tens of millions of end users across thousands of Enterprises worldwide. The company also doubled registered channel partners around the world in 2020, increased its workforce by 25 percent and grew to 150 Service Providers, including seven of the world’s top 10, who have standardized on Versa. “Versa customers and partners enabled us to deliver an exceptional year in 2020 while helping many businesses, their employees, and their customers to enable a safer, digitally transformed, and continuous business environment during a difficult business environment,” said Kelly Ahuja, CEO with Versa. “Versa SASE and Versa Secure SD-WAN accelerated growth and market leadership in 2020 as recognized by industry experts, analysts, customers, and partners, who we give our gratitude. 2021 is on track to surpass expectations as the adoption of SASE, 5G, and multi-cloud accelerates.” Versa made significant investments in additional sales and marketing staff,

resources, and investments in 2020 to keep up with accelerating global demand for Versa SASE and Versa Secure SD-WAN. Several new partners announced partnerships with Versa during the year including Deutsche Telekom, McAfee, OmniClouds, MCM Telecom, Sprint Networks, Telesystem, and VergX. Versa introduced several major product releases in 2020, including substantial updates to Versa Titan, the Secure SD-WAN industry standard for Lean IT. “Versa substantially increased our product velocity with many new releases introduced in 2020,” said Kumar Mehta, Chief Development Officer for Versa. “The Versa engineering performed flawlessly and even accelerated the delivery of Versa Secure Access ahead of schedule to meet the sudden demand for work from anywhere and work from home requirements experienced by our customers in 2020.” The company also rolled out the ability to connect Versa Secure SD-WAN with applications and resources in Amazon Web Services (AWS) using the new high-performance AWS Transit Gateway Connect feature.

PRICE

RS. 299.00 (PAPERBACK)

About the Author The author is an IT professional and a certified ISO 27001 Internal Auditor and CISO with over 22 years of experience in designing and managing IT Infrastructure and creation of policies. His experience involves installing and managing Windows/ Linux servers, IT Policy Management, managing teams of engineers both in-house and outsourced to generate optimum infrastructure efficiency.

Teradata Provides 30-Day Free Trial for Modern Cloud Data Analytics Teradata, the cloud data analytics platform company, today announced the availability of Vantage Trial to provide free, 30-day access to Teradata Vantage in the cloud for business analysts, data scientists, and IT operations personnel. With easy-to-use web-based tools and applications for performing advanced analytics, Vantage Trial provides a taste of what customers get with their paid subscriptions to Vantage in the cloud.

With Teradata Vantage – the leading multi-cloud data analytics software platform that unifies data warehouses, data lakes, and analytics – enterprise-scale companies can eliminate silos and cost-effectively query all their data, all the time, to get a complete view of their business. Vantage is the only data warehouse and analytics platform to provide consistent features and software across on-premises, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments across

the top three public cloud vendors – Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure – offering maximum flexibility and choice to its data-driven customers. “As a cloud-first data analytics platform company, it is imperative that we show how Teradata Vantage can help all users get the most value from their data – and Vantage Trial is tailored to do just that,” said Hillary Ashton, Chief Product Officer at Teradata.

JANUARY 2021 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD

ITWORLD // NEWS BRIEF

Everest Group recognizes L&T Technology L&T Technology Services has been recognized as a ‘Leader’ for Development and Verification & Validation services in Industry 4.0 by the consulting and research firm, Everest Group. In its report, ‘PEAK Matrix for Industry 4.0 Service Provider 2020,’ Everest Group has identified LTTS among the six leading companies in the market based on various parameters such as market adoption, portfolio mix, value delivered, innovation & investments, delivery footprint, and vision and strategy. According to Everest Group, LTTS has a strong ability to drive a high level of innovation around Industry 4.0 that customers recognize, buoyed by robust investments in establishing dedicated infrastructure, developing a strong partner ecosystem and enhancing IP assets for Industry 4.0 services. The objective of the PEAK Matrix is to provide a data-driven assessment of service and technology providers based on their overall capability and market impact across different global services markets, classifying them into “Leaders”, “Major Contenders”, and “Aspirants”.

Versa SASE Delivers Success to Real-World Customers Versa Networks announced that feedback from Versa SASE customers and partners reveals its comprehensive integrated architecture delivers improved security and performance with significant cost and time savings over competing disparate solutions which stitch together security, routing, and SD-WAN. Customers deploying the unique Single-Pass Parallel Processing architecture found in VOS (Versa Operating System) are able to achieve the industry’s most comprehensive integration of SASE networking and security elements in a single software image, including SD-WAN, routing, Next Generation Firewall (NGFW), Secure Web Gateway (SWG), private access, IDS/IPS, CASB, Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware, Role-Based Access Control, and User and Entity Behavior Analytics. As a result, Versa customers are savingup to 80 percent in costs when deploying Versa SASE compared to competitive solutions which require adding SASE services. “There are numerous security vendors on the market that deliver individual components of our SASE strategy,” said Lance Brophy, IT Director of Operations Transformation with Thornton Tomasetti.

DigiCert Completes Migration of Customers, Partners to DigiCert CertCentral DigiCert has successfully migrated customers and partners from multiple legacy Symantec enterprise, retail and partner TLS consoles to its award-winning DigiCert CertCentral and shut down legacy public TLS issuance systems. This milestone significantly improves the user experience, while consolidating DigiCert’s PKI operations, freeing resources to focus on innovation of customer-facing and back-end solutions. This achievement supports DigiCert’s ongoing initiative of modernizing PKI to ensure scalable, fast and reliable trust services for a rapidly growing number of online security use cases. Over the past two years, DigiCert has invested significant resources to modernize its technology to be the PKI infrastructure service to solve today’s security challenges. 12 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD JANUARY 2021

The company has established its technology infrastructure in new, state-of-the-art data centers and continues to advance a strategy that combines the best global technology with regional initiatives and teams, to offer a local touch. The upgrade to CertCentral for all customers and partners will include access to rich automation for the entire TLS certificate lifecycle, from provisioning to discovery and renewal, modernizing the way that IT and security teams manage their certificates. It bolsters DigiCert’s continuous creation of new offerings for its customers and partners through CertCentral. DigiCert is committed to giving customers and partners tools to manage all of their certificates more efficiently and effectively at scale.

DIGEST CYNET: NEED FOR SMES WITH SMALL SECURITY TEAMS TO RETHINK CYBERSECURITY STRATEGY Cynet survey titled “2021 CISO Survey of Small Cyber Security Teams” revealed that companies with small security teams, generally SMEs, are facing a number of unique challenges, placing these organizations at greater risk than their larger enterprise counterparts. These enhanced risks are moving 100% of these companies to outsource at least some aspects of security threat mitigation in order to safeguard IT assets. In this survey of 200 CISOs at small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) with five or fewer security staff members and cybersecurity budgets of $US one million or less, it was found that a majority of these organizations were overwhelmed by the endless volley of cyber-attacks. FUJITSU DELIVERS CASHLESS, CONTACTLESS RETAIL EXPERIENCE FOR MASKED SHOPPERS Fujitsu Laboratories has announced the development of a new multi-factor biometric authentication technology to deliver an innovative shopping experience for the “New Normal” era, combining non-contact biometrics that filter the verification target through facial data with identification performed via palm vein recognition. This technology enables identification with greater than 99% accuracy even when the user wears a mask, and will be showcased at a concept cashless Lawson convenience store at the Fujitsu Technology Square office in ShinKawasaki, Japan (1), for a field trial starting from January 2021. THOUGHTWORKS ACQUIRES LEADING FINNISH CONSULTANCY FOURKIND ThoughtWorks announced its second acquisition in 2021 and has agreed to acquire Fourkind, a privately-held Finnish consulting services firm that combines machine learning and data science with strategy, design and engineering. Founded in 2017 in Helsinki, the company now has a 40-strong team of data scientists, machine learning experts, designers, engineers and strategists and has worked with 80+ organizations in 10+ countries. Fourkind’s 40 employees will continue to operate from their existing premises in Helsinki and Amsterdam. The founders and leadership team will remain in post after the acquisition to grow and evolve the business.

NEWS BRIEF // IT WORLD

MANAGEMENT

MANTRA

You have to be conscious about how you wish to be perceived, and build a track record along these things. Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Bank of Baroda Board

DE-CIX India establishes 2 new PoPs in Noida, Delhi NCR and 2 in Mumbai

TrueNAS M40 Stores and Protects Data from Potential Earthquake Damage

TrueNAS M-Series Open Storage systems have been successfully deployed to capture data created by an advanced seismic monitoring system. Measuring seismic activity on the City of Pasadena’s unused dark fiber optic network, which was installed 30 years ago, will give the city and its citizens earthquake impact and damage predictions for each neighborhood in the area with the goal of improving public safety. The seismic monitoring system, created and run by researchers at Caltech, leverages 23 miles of unused fiber optic cable that circles Pasadena, California. In the cable, there are hundreds of individual fiber strands, many of which are unused or “Dark” and made available for research use

by the City. The research team spearheading this work is led by assistant professor of geophysics Zhongwen Zhan. Zhan is using the relatively new field of Digital Acoustic Sensing (DAS) for this research. DAS uses laser pulses submitted through fiber optics to sense underground activity. Seismic waves passing through the soil cause the expansion and contraction of the cable, changing the distance the light travels between waypoints in the cable. The fluctuations in the distance the light travels are analogous to thousands of seismometers for more precise measurement of seismically created waves in the area. The measurements collected by the University are equivalent to having data from 30,000 seismometers, which is significant. “The TrueNAS M40 brings the power of High Availability (HA) ZFS storage to Caltech’s IT backend, making it a robust data retention solution for this application,” said Morgan Littlewood, SVP, Product Management and Business Development. “Compared to the alternative proprietary storage options, the budget-friendly TrueNAS M40 delivers a full suite of data management features and resiliencies that ensure there are no issues during operations.”

The leading carrier and data center neutral Internet Exchange (IX) operator on the Indian sub-continent, DE-CIX India, has announced the expansion of its points of presence (PoPs) in the national as well as financial capital. In addition to its 11 PoPs across the country, DE-CIX has now deployed 4 new PoPs within Web Werks Delhi NCR, Sify Noida, and Netmagic DC6, Netmagic DC7. DE-CIX India interconnects 310+ networks and is the only Open-IX certified IX in India, operating the industry’s most robust and advanced peering platform. “With our networks designed for scalability, adaptability, virtualization and automation, we embarked on this expansion for our members. We are able to bring a lot of Internet content closer to our members from across the country. And now, we have the opportunity to bring the content from around the world closer. By announcing these four very important Internet Exchange locations for DE-CIX, we will have our key markets fortified for interconnectivity solutions,” says Sudhir Kunder, Sr. Vice President and National Head at DE-CIX India.

Versa SASE Identified as Having Most Listed SASE Components Versa Networks, the leader in SASEand Secure SD-WAN, today announced that Gartner,the leading provider of research and analysis on the global information technology industry, has identified Versa SASE as having 13 of the15 SASE components listed by Gartner, as of the publication date of the “SASE Will Improve Your Distributed Security Everywhere” report.1The report compared SASE components of 56 vendor products, with 13 SASE components being the highest offered by a vendor, of the vendors Gartner evaluated. According to Gartner, “Existing security and network technology deployments will shape customers’ path to secure access service edge (SASE) architecture. The sudden shift to remote work has caused companies to reassess their distributed workforce approach to system access. SASE is a leading architectural framework approach to help. Business drivers for SASE include

increases in complexity and latency at the edge. SASE aims to simplify security through centralized policy control with a focus on cloud-based security services. When correctly orchestrated, centralized policy can use factors like identity and user context to govern how services are routed and protected.”1 Versa SASE is uniquely differentiated in the ability to deliver comprehensive integrated SASE services both on-premises and via the cloud using the same operating system within a single softwarestack, VOS™ (Versa Operating System), based on the Versa Single-Pass Parallel Processing architecture. Due to the genuine multi-tenant capabilities, VOS™ delivers these services via the cloud taking advantage of cloud economies of scale while servicing hundreds of thousands of tenants simultaneously. Versa SASE is also uniquely available as a private cloud service wherein enterprises can operate, manage and host their own private Versa Cloud Gateways wherever they choose. JANUARY 2021 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD

ITWORLD // NEWS BRIEF

Cloud4C collaborates with Citrix for VDI Solutions

OpenText Will Showcase Next-Gen Early Case Assessment OpenText will highlight the recently launched OpenText Axcelerate Investigation platform during Legalweek(year) 2021. Launched as part of OpenText Cloud Edition 20.4, Axcelerate Investigation expedites early case assessment (ECA) and investigations, helping to improve efficiency and reduce costs by providing rapid access to the facts. Typical ECA tools collect, process and cull data. For analysis, legal teams must transfer the data to an eDiscovery platform for a full review, use standalone analytics, or both. Axcelerate Investigation helps eliminate potentially error-prone data transfers, time-consuming and costly document reviews and multiple point solutions by combining robust collection, processing and culling with powerful frontended analytics in a single solution. Purpose-built to quickly find the facts, Axcelerate Investigation features:  Visual analytics, including Hypergraph Communications Map, which helps make complex information easier to understand and uncover relevant

data with greater speed and precision.  Predictive searching and filtering— technology-assisted review on the fly without the workflow—which aids in delivery of rapid insights and identifies unknown unknowns.  Concept, phrase and sentiment analysis, automated summaries and entity extraction for a faster and deeper understanding of data  Analytics to identify sensitive, confidential and privileged data “Getting to the facts quickly is a competitive advantage for legal teams in today’s environment of stretched resources, growing data volumes and stringent deadlines. Efficiently assessing data to find the facts mitigates risk and saves downstream eDiscovery costs,” said Muhi Majzoub, Chief Product Officer at OpenText. “With Axcelerate, legal teams can quickly investigate data sets of any size in order to find facts, assess risks, conduct early case assessment and make strategic case decisions.”

Cloud4C, World’s leading Cloud Managed Services provider, has partnered with Citrix to offer Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service for enterprises to leverage unmatched security and mobile workforce capabilities. With expanding teams and remote working on the rise, the collaboration between Cloud4C and Citrix will help enterprises to seamlessly deploy Citrix’s Virtual Apps and Desktops to any device across the workforce with ease and zero disruption. Cloud4C’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solutions will enhance productivity and improve performance, with efficiency, security, and scalability. Providing secure, remote work is the core value proposition of the VDI solution and this has become more relevant due to the need for employees to work securely from home due to COVID-19 pandemic. Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Founder and CEO, Cloud4C said, “We are happy to collaborate with Citrix to offer a hybrid Citrix VDI solutions which help enterprises with high-definition consistent VDI experience on any device, boosting productivity even on unreliable connections, fast and secure access to applications and data, easy scaling up to support temporary workers working from anywhere, easy access to data-intensive applications, and reduced IT costs. At Cloud4C, we are equipped with multiple certified resources for Citrix, Windows, Security, and public cloud platform.”

Essar Selects Yotta Infrastructure as their Digital Transformation Partner

Yotta Infrastructure announced that Essar Capital Ltd., having investments worth around USD 14 billion, has undertaken a large-scale digital 14 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD JANUARY 2021

transformation initiative by consolidating their various on-premise datacenters into Yotta’s state-of-the-art Yotta NM1 datacenter at Panvel, Navi Mumbai. The contract was awarded after a thorough evaluation of all options available in the market – a process that spanned across a year. “We decided to co-locate to a multi-tenant datacenter service provider that could not only modernise our IT infrastructure but also assure us of uninterrupted services, 100% uptime, iron-clad security, scalability, and came with a customer-focused mind-set. After evaluating

multiple options available in the market, we decided to migrate to Yotta NM1. What moved the deal in their favour was the Uptime Institute Tier IV certification”, said N Jayantha Prabhu, CIO, Essar Global and Business Head, India & SAARC, AGC Networks. Sunil Gupta, Co-founder, and CEO – Yotta Infrastructure said, “Being chosen by a large conglomerate like Essar Global is a testimony to it. As we believe in delivering enterprise-grade, high quality solutions to our customers, this kind of success story will reinforce our commitment towards the Indian market.”’

GLOBAL RISK REPORT // SECURITY

TENABLE ON WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM’S 2021 GLOBAL RISK REPORT In the 16th edition of the World Economic Forum’s 2021 Global Risks Report, cybersecurity continues to be among the top 10 risks. This has been driven by the rapid digitisation of human interactions in the way we work and live and exacerbated by the pandemic. The report states that as social identities become more defined by online identities, users will be increasingly at risk of exposure to targeted political manipulation, invasion of privacy, cybercrime, financial loss, and

psychological or physical harm. “Cybersecurity failure ranks the fourth highest “clear and present danger” in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report 2021. This should come as no surprise as our global reliance on all things technology went into overdrive in 2020. Computational power was instrumental in the research and development of vaccines. Operational technology within critical infrastructure continues to underpin the cold supply chain and

ROBERT HUBER, CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER, TENABLE

logistics, facilitating the safe delivery and storage of vaccine vials. While the power of technology was on full display in 2020, so too were the potential pitfalls. The issue with this kind of reliance is that, if we continue to steam ahead without first ensuring the security of this technology, the threats to our digital economy and very way of life will take hold. In 2020, we saw that threat actors weren’t afraid to take aim and exploit weaknesses in security practices for financial and even political gain. While regulation and globally accepted frameworks can be effective in raising the importance of cybersecurity efforts, alone neither is enough. Any cybersecurity initiative has to look beyond meeting minimum standard requirements to address the actual risks organisations face. It must elevate cybersecurity’s role as a strategic business function and critical enterprise risk.” — Robert Huber, Chief Security Officer, Tenable. JANUARY 2021 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD

SECURITY // TECH INDUSTRY

DANNY ALLAN PREDICTS TRENDS THAT WILL DOMINATE THE TECH INDUSTRY IN 2021 pandemic with the reinforcement of cloud-based environments. In 2021, we’ll see DevOps teams continuing to have far more say in the data strategy process, and as a result we’ll see a greater increase in the mobility of workloads, correlating with an increase in cloud data management techniques.

DANNY ALLAN, CTO, VEEAM

Developers will have more say in technology direction and data strategy of companies We will see an aggressive “shift to the left” across all industries, where CIO’s will depend more on their development teams to guide the technical direction of the company. Historically, development teams have taken a top-down approach to move their data to the cloud, but – as have many things in the world – this changed with the 16 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD JANUARY 2021

A greater focus on protecting and managing work collaboration platform data in the cloud Distributed workforces were already on an upward trajectory but have been completely kicked into overdrive with the COVID-19 pandemic. With many companies extending work-at-home opportunities through mid-next year, reliance on cloud-based collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Slack, will only increase. This means even more teams will be looking to harness the power of the cloud to store an influx of data from collaboration platforms. In 2021, this will create more focus, awareness and need for data protection and management for collaboration software. With the decline of hardware, softwaredefined models will become more prominent Appliances will diminish in their attractive as we shift towards software-defined models. 10 years ago, appliances where these shiny new toys that everyone wanted to get their hands on, however

they have not had the staying power we predicted they would. In fact, we’ve seen a shift towards backup-as-a-service and away from appliances. Remote work in the pandemic had a real impact on how we dealt with hardware in 2020 that will continue into 2021 as software-defined models take center stage. Machine learning will become democratized in the cloud around data Already, we are seeing organizations recognize the unlimited opportunities available to them through data they have already collected. Data re-use will be a big trend we see organizations shifting to 2021, with many leveraging the power of machine learning to help them do this. This is still in the emerging stages; however, its adoption will increase as organizations recognize how it can help them analyze and re-use data that they already have. By leveraging machine learning in the cloud, organizations will ultimately become smarter. Compliance regulation fines won’t see an uptick – they’re going to continue trending down Data privacy and privacy regulations will continue to gain traction in 2021. In particular, I predict we will see the first proposed federal regulations around privacy in the New Year. However, compliance fines will continue on the downward trend we saw in 2020. We saw a massive jump in compliance fines in 2019, which solidified how seriously GDPR, CCPA and others needed to be taken. Now that this attention has been received and the awareness is there, the shift will be more towards more consistency of privacy regulations at the federal level. IT spending will rebound after 2020 – security and hardware will be at the top of the list Despite the economic turbulence brought on by the pandemic in 2020, we’ll see a five to 10 percent increase in general IT spend in the New Year. Allocations will likely focus most on security, general system modernizations (backup, applications, cloud migrations, etc.) and refreshing hardware. In addition, organizations will take a look at what was on “hold” in 2020 to address IT spend that happens on an annual recurring basis. For example, hardware should be refreshed every three years, and if the pandemic halted an organization’s attention to hardware, it’s fair to say that will make its way to the top of the list in 2021.

Click the link to access the article: https://www. enterpriseitworld.com/

PANDEMIC // SECURITY

STRATEGICALLY PLANNING YOUR WAY OUT OF A PANDEMIC cations to the cloud, and as a result, many now feel well-positioned to return to growth. However, this digital transformation journey is far from over. Instead, executives must now shift their focus to filling network security gaps overlooked in the initial rush to cloud migration. Think Fast, Act with Purpose Senior executives made quick decisions that will have long-term implications. Roughly 50% of the respondents noted that the changes made regarding headcount, processes/applications, real estate assets and budgets are permanent.

NIKHIL TANEJA, VICE PRESIDENT & MANAGING DIRECTOR – INDIA , SAARC , MIDDLE EAST & GSI AT RADWARE

As organizations usher into the new decade, executives are now getting optimistic about business prospects; automation is promising to propel operational efficiencies, and C-level management continues to invest in digital transformation strategies. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the realities of the “new normal” took hold. Plans to transition business infrastructures to the cloud — initially slated for months or even years down the road — accelerated rapidly. Senior executives had to quickly meet the challenge of implementing strategies that didn’t just address immediate needs but also positioned their organizations well for the long term. Indeed, the pandemic was the catalyst for the C-suite to take decisive action. Organizations swiftly migrated business-critical assets and appli-

Immediate Business Impact In their 2019 business plans, more than 65% of the survey respondents indicated that they planned for increased growth in 2019. Thirtyfive percent of the respondents noted a positive impact on headcount. It’s possible that downsizing at some companies enabled them to fill strategic positions with qualified candidates who would not have been in the job market prior to the pandemic. Focusing on Efficiencies C-suite executives quickly identified operational efficiencies to control costs and continue to support customers, suppliers and employees, including: Optimizing capex/opex Reducing the workforce Cutting back on real estate assets Shifting to a remote workforce Building robust digital infrastructures Transitioning IT infrastructure to the cloud Adopting artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and automation technologies to reduce manual processes/errors Deploying differentiated security solutions

More than half of all respondents anticipated increased growth in 2021–2022 based on changes that they are implementing now. Ensuring Business Resiliency- What has the pandemic taught us about futureproofing businesses? COVID-19 pandemic put disaster recovery plans to the test. It globally affected nearly every aspect of an organization in a concentrated amount of time. Organizations that had strong disaster preparedness plans and an agile IT infrastructure in place fared better than those that did not. To better position their companies against continuing disruptions, C-suite executives have sharpened their focus on strategies that build resiliency. Acceleration of plans to migrate network assets to the cloud Adoption of machine learning, AI and automation to improve resiliency and business efficiency. Transition to a largely remote workforce Reduction in the amount of real estate and other assets related to operating expenses Capture of market share by adapting to the demands of a contactless economy Staffing of hard-to-fill strategic positions from a wider and geographically diverse candidate pool C-suite executives understand that leveraging new technologies can help their companies respond more agilely as market forces change. The hope is that the need for speed in transitioning to cloud-based networks will produce long-term benefits in faster time to market for revenuegenerating services and applications, improved customer experiences and more robust support for critical business operations. Planning for Disruptions The swift impact on business operations caused by the pandemic drew the C-suite’s attention to hidden vulnerabilities. Survey responses revealed that executives have moved quickly to build resiliencies into their organizations with an eye toward long-term results. Key measures are focused on: Increasing market share Seeking new revenue streams Advancing network infrastructure to better support remote operations Improving the customer experience Moving to the Cloud Organizations look to cloud service providers for network infrastructures that enable more agile responses to customer needs and deliver high availability and network performance while reducing operational costs. JANUARY 2021 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD

BY SANJAY@ACCENTINFOMEDIA.COM

INTERVIEW // SOPHOS

S U N I L

S H A R M A

MD – Sales, Sophos India & SAARC

With a growing number of organizations outsourcing their cybersecurity and going

for cybersecurity as a service, we see a great growth for partners who are working as MSPs (Managed Service Providers).

18 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD JANUARY 2021

SOPHOS // INTERVIEW

THE NEW NORMAL WILL BE DRIVEN BY DIGITAL TRANSFO RMATION AND CLOUD ADOPTION With business are opening up post Covid-19, cyber security is becoming major concern for the Industry. It is therefore offering opportunity for the partners to excel. SME Channels spoke to Sunil Sharma, MD – Sales, Sophos India & SAARC to know about their strategy. How Sophos is seeing the India market situation and sentiment post Covid-19? The pandemic has heavily impacted our working and learning culture. With businesses forced to adopt work from home, we observed a great acceleration in digital transformation and cloud adoption. However, with organizations balancing between ‘responding’ and ‘business continuity’, the global pandemic has worsened the cybersecurity vulnerabilities. As businesses continue to transition in the new normal, we see them becoming more serious about cybersecurity and adopting a zero-trust security posture to accommodate expanding work force and IT assets. In future, more organizations will continue moving towards cloud native next generation cybersecurity solutions and layered security where security solutions are integrated and share threat intelligence to accommodate secured “work from anywhere” model. What should be the strategy behind bounce back for the partners? Sophos’ security solutions are designed to protect endpoints, data and infrastructure regardless of location and we are proud to say that the channel partners of Sophos were not impacted by the

pandemic that much in terms of the continuity of their cybersecurity business. With a growing number of organizations outsourcing their cybersecurity and going for cybersecurity as a service, we see a great growth for partners who are working as MSPs (Managed Service Providers). The new normal will be driven by digital transformation and cloud adoption. With India having a huge SMB base, it will be a tremendous opportunity for partners who adopt MSP model to tap this SMB market as these organizations don’t have in house team that can take care of their cybersecurity round the clock. What is Sophos strategy to take partners in a growth direction? Our vision at Sophos is to protect people and businesses from cybercrime by developing powerful and intuitive products and services. These products and services are aimed at providing the world’s most effective cybersecurity solutions for organizations of any size. We also aim to work closely with partners to make them believe in our vision and grow them by protecting our joint customers across every vertical and size. Our MSP offering is also a great growth platform for our MSP partners who want to grow their

cybersecurity as a service revenue. Would there be change in the overall strategy from Sophos? More than 70% of our global business will be from our cloud native products (by the end of this fiscal) and that speaks volumes about our future preparedness which is leaning towards digital transformation and cloud adoption. We are clear on our strategy that will accommodate the future of technology and the new normal way of working. Skillset gap is a big challenge for the security domain, what Sophos would do towards this? At Sophos, we have a two-pronged approach to address this challenge. Sophos’ Synchronized Security, an automated cybersecurity system enabled by machine learning has empowered businesses globally to work with reduced or smaller security teams. For the businesses having no in-house team to conduct threat hunting, which is a must for security from today’s sophisticated threats, we empower them with threat hunting services through Sophos’ Managed Threat Response (MTR). And for the organizations that are under active attacks, we provide Sophos Rapid Response, helping them to tackle and neutralize active cyberattacks. Any particular segment partners would focus on while approaching the market? Sophos’ solutions cater to all segments and sizes of organizations and that is a wonderful opportunity our partners have with us. What all activities Sophos is planning to create lead gen activities? We are conducting multiple thought leadership virtual events to showcase our offerings, awareness campaigns and trainings to help us to generate leads. What is Sophos expectation from percentage growth perspective for 2021 FY? Sophos is well poised for an exponential growth. We are one of the fastest growing cybersecurity companies in the world. And our future strategy is also very clear – to advance our next-generation solutions that leverage synchronized security. We are very positive to leverage digital transformation and cloud adoption from cybersecurity point of view in FY 21. JANUARY 2021 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD

STORAGE // TRENDS FOR 2021

SANDEEP BHAMBURE, VICE PRESIDENT AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, INDIA & SAARC, VEEAM

VEEAM’S SANDEEP BHAMBURE PREDICTS TECHNOLOGY AND TRENDS FOR 2021 Early this year, the global pandemic triggered the health and humanitarian crisis along with making businesses face unprecedented challenges in the form increased uncertainty, dented customer confidence, compliance issues and more importantly effective utilization of human resources. Fast forward to the year end, technology led business continuity and recovery plans put together by leaders have started bearing fruit in the form of encouraging business outlook, stronger liquidity, business momentum and enhanced customer confidence. In the backdrop of the positive business momentum, here are the key technology & trends predictions for 2021 Remote collaboration: Protecting critical 20 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD JANUARY 2021

organization information will be a top priority for CIOs as millions of employees across metro cities and a large migrant employee base in tier 2 & 3 cities continue to operate remotely across distributed environments. User data from personal PCs, notebooks, smartphones and Software as a Service (SaaS) business models from technology tools like Office 365, sharepoint will continue to witness exponential growth and will result in heightened demand for data management and security solutions. CISO in the spotlight: Businesses will continue to sharpen focus on increasing business resiliency as organizations prepare for the new normal in 2021. To protect an organization’s identity, the role

of chief information security officer(CISO) will gain added prominence and play a vital role in influencing important business decisions. From predicting potential loop holes in IT security framework to fending mission critical processes and data from sophisticated cyber attacks, CISOs will have their task cut out. Digital India: India’s vision to transform into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy will receive further impetus as the public and private sectors will further accelerate adoption of digital services. Government services like e-passport seva, Aadhar card, GST to smart city, infrastructure are expected to receive increased spending on digitization of services for inclusive growth. Additionally, 5G network will act as catalyst to accelerate the Digital India vision and will demand a comprehensive data management strategy for accommodating data proliferation Cloud service providers: As more customers continue to move workloads to cloud, cloud service providers will have to guard against any outages due to sudden spike in workloads. The key will be to protect and quickly migrate workloads to other infrastructure and retain customer confidence by building robust frameworks. Key Sectors: Financial Services and Fintech: Digital banking will further accelerate as traditional Financial services sector and Fintech players will continue to lead the adoption of digital services. Data management will be at the heart of these digitized services to provide uninterrupted services like customer onboarding, digital KYC, insurance management etc. Increasingly banking sector will migrate workloads to cloud environment to meet the growing demand. Additionally, evolving ransomware attacks will pose serious threats thereby making retrieval of data difficult. Healthcare & Pharma: The highly regulated healthcare and pharma will elevate their efforts in protecting end point customer and business data. Additionally, enhanced patient care services will drive the need for contactless and touchless healthcare services.

Click the link to access the article: https://www. enterpriseitworld.com/

CYBER ADVERSARIES // SECURITY

FIGHTING NATIONSTATE CYBER ADVERSARIES: WAIT UNTIL IT HITS OR RE-THINK THE APPROACH NICOLAS FISCHBACH, GLOBAL CTO &VPE SASE, FORCEPOINT

Late last year, the world saw Sunburst/Solorigate cyberattacks against government agencies and global enterprises where the malware attacked organizations via the supply chain through a compromised networking program. Like our peers, Forcepoint also pushed out protection updates to help mitigate the attack and protect our customers as soon as details emerged. While there is still much that potentially remains unknown, one thing is clear: fighting these cyber adversaries requires a re-thinking of security approach. In most cases, our adversaries’ goal is more than monetary – it’s to infiltrate, learn by staying under the radar and finally to exfiltrate sensitive data. Sometimes it’s to prepare for future disruption or cause direct havoc. Nation-state adversaries, in particular, are well funded and able to mount complex operations to circumvent multiple layers of protection.

Further compounding this challenge, they are also evolving their tactics more quickly than most organizations can fortify their security, detection and response posture for these modern-day threats. (On a side note, often the attackers fail to protect themselves with good OPSEC and it’s not uncommon to see multiple actors ride on each other’s compromise or failing to notice that they are themselves being watched.) When we look at the last 10 years and the many headline-making breaches that have been reported, the common denominator in all of them is the exfiltration of data for direct or indirect financial gain. The reality is breaches often follow the same modus operandi. But first let’s take a trip down memory lane: What has changed is the level of sophistication in how the attackers come through the door, be it yours or the cloud services’, become persistent or have a way to return in the environment, and the tricks they employ to exfiltrate critical data “under the radar”. And, as we saw in the Sunburst attack, sophisticated attackers have the patience to lie in wait for months or even years before they execute their plan. Using that time to learn about your network, your users, and, more importantly, where all the digital crown jewels are stored. Given the attackers were discovered months after they first gained access to target government and enterprise networks via a supply chain attack in March 2020, we’ll likely never know the full extent of the Sunburst attack. However, it’s clear the scope is large and the victims represent important pillars of global governments, the economy and critical infrastructure. With the information stolen from those systems, or malware these criminals have likely left behind, we can expect it to be used for follow-on attacks in the years to come both in the digital and in the physical world. Gartner Predicts 75% of CEOs will be Personally Liable for Cyber-Physical Security (CPS) Incidents by 2024. Gartner predicts that the financial impact of CPS attacks resulting in fatal casualties will reach over $50 billion by 2023. Even without taking the actual value of a human life into the equation, the costs for organizations in terms of compensation, litigation, insurance, regulatory fines and reputation loss will be significant. So, what is the modern security path forward when infrastructure security isn’t enough? Is a wholesale shift needed in how the industry, government agencies and enterprises approach security today? If so, then a holistic approach to security is required in today’s modern threat landscape and cloud era – one that understands network, cloud, and in particular users and the critical data they create, interact with, share and store. JANUARY 2021 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD

MARKET STUDY

BY SANJAY@ACCENTINFOMEDIA.COM

2020 has changed our relationship with money, and people now trust robots more than themselves to manage their finances, according to a new study by Oracle and personal finance expert Farnoosh Torabi. The study of more than 9,000 consumers and business leaders across 14 countries including India found that the COVID19 pandemic has increased financial anxiety, sadness, and fear among people around the world; changed who and what we trust to manage our finances; and is reshaping the role and focus areas of corporate finance teams and personal financial advisors. COVID-19 has created financial anxiety, sadness, and fear The global pandemic has damaged people’s relationship with money at home and at work. • Among business leaders, financial anxiety and stress increased by 186 percent and sadness grew by 116 percent; consumer financial anxiety and stress doubled and sadness increased by 70 percent. • In India,106 percent of business leaders saw an increase in financial anxiety and stress, and their sadness grew by 47 percent. • 90 percent of business leaders are worried about the impact of COVID-19 on their organization, with the most common concerns being a slow economic recovery or recession (51 percent), budget cuts (38 percent), and bankruptcy (27 percent). • For Indian business leaders, 95 percent are worried about the impact of COVID-19, with slow economic recovery or recession (59 percent), budget cuts (49 percent), and bankruptcy (29 percent) as their main concerns. • 87 percent of consumers are experiencing financial fears, including job loss (39 percent), losing savings (38 percent), and never getting out of debt (26 percent). • Amongst Indian consumers, 90 percent are experiencing financial fears, including job loss (34 percent), losing savings (47 percent), and never getting out of debt (21 percent). • These concerns are keeping people up at night: 41 percent of global consumers reported losing sleep due to their personal finances. • In India, that number rose to 59 percent of consumers. People want help and now trust robots more than themselves to manage finances The financial uncertainty created by COVID-19 has changed who and what we trust to manage our finances. To help navigate financial complexity, consumers and business leaders increasingly 22 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD JANUARY 2021

GLOBAL STUDY: 83% OF INDIANS TRUST ROBOTS MORE THAN HUMANS TO MANAGE FINANCE Research shows growing confidence among consumers and business leaders that robots handle finance tasks better than people

trust technology over people to help. • 67 percent of consumers and business leaders trust a robot more than a human to manage finances. • 83 percent of Indian consumers and business leaders share this belief. • 73 percent of business leaders trust a robot more than themselves to manage finances; 77 percent trust robots over their own finance teams. • A higher share, 88 percent, of Indian business leaders trust a robot more than themselves to manage finances; 85 percent trust robots over their own finance teams. • 89 percent of business leaders believe that robots can improve their work by detecting fraud (34 percent), creating invoices (25 percent), and conducting cost/benefit analysis (23 percent). • Almost every Indian business leader (96%) believes that robots can improve their work by detecting fraud (37 percent), creating invoices (32 percent), and conducting cost/benefit analysis (30 percent). • 53 percent of consumers trust a robot more than themselves to manage finances; 63 percent trust robots over personal financial advisors. • The percentage for Indian consumers is 72 percent and 82 percent respectively. • 66 percent of consumers believe robots can help with managing finances by assisting to detect

fraud (33 percent), helping to reduce spending (22 percent), and making stock market investments (15 percent). • That number amongst Indian consumers is a bit higher, with 85 percent of Indian consumers believing robots can help with managing finances by assisting to detect fraud (45 percent), helping to reduce spending (34 percent), and making stock market investments (24 percent). The role of finance teams and financial advisors will never be the same To adapt to the growing influence and role of technology, corporate finance professionals and personal finance advisors must embrace change and develop new skills. • 56 percent of business leaders believe robots will replace corporate finance professionals in the next five years. • 67 percent of Indian business leaders believe the same. • 85 percent of business leaders want help from robots for finance tasks, including finance approvals (43 percent), budgeting and forecasting (39 percent), reporting (38 percent), and compliance and risk management (38 percent). • A whopping 93 percent of Indian business leaders want assistance from robots for finance tasks, including finance approvals (58 percent),

MARKET STUDY

budgeting and forecasting (49 percent), reporting (38 percent), and compliance and risk management (50 percent). • Business leaders want corporate finance professionals to focus on communicating with customers (40 percent), negotiating discounts (37 percent), and approving transactions (31 percent). • In India, business leaders want finance professionals to focus on communicating with customers (27 percent), negotiating discounts (25 percent), and approving transactions (23 percent). • 42 percent of global consumers believe robots will replace personal financial advisors in the next five years. • 57 percent of Indian consumers believe the same. • 76 percent of consumers want robots to help them manage their finances by freeing up time (33 percent), reducing unnecessary spending (31 percent), and increasing on-time payments (31 percent). • 45 percent of Indian consumers want robots to help manage their finances by freeing up their time, 37 percent want reducing unnecessary spending and 40 percent feel that robots can help them in regulating their payments. • Consumers want personal financial advisors to provide guidance on major purchasing decisions such as buying a house (45 percent), buying

a car (41 percent), and planning a vacation (38 percent). • Indian consumers lag a bit with 32 percent wanting guidance in buying a house, 29 percent in buying a car and 28 percent in planning a vacation. Our relationship with money has changed; it’s time to embrace AI to manage finance The events of 2020 have changed the way consumers think about money and have increased the need for organizations to rethink how they use AI and other new technologies to manage financial processes. • 60 percent of global consumers say the pandemic has changed the way they buy goods and services. • 88 percent of Indian consumers say the pandemic has changed the way they buy goods and services. • 87 percent of business leaders say organizations that don’t rethink financial processes will face risks, including falling behind competitors (44 percent), more stressed workers (36 percent), inaccurate reporting (36 percent), and reduced employee productivity (35 percent). • Majority of Indian business leaders (94 percent) agree that organizations that don’t rethink financial processes will face risks, including falling

behind competitors (46 percent), more stressed workers (45 percent), inaccurate reporting (42 percent), and reduced employee productivity (44 percent). • 72 percent of consumers say the events of 2020 have changed how they feel about handling cash, with people feeling anxious (26 percent), fearful (23 percent), and dirty (19 percent). More than a quarter (29 percent) of consumers now say that cash-only is a deal-breaker for doing business. • Almost every Indian consumer (93 percent) shares the feeling that the events of 2020 have changed how they feel about handling cash, with people feeling anxious (33 percent), fearful (39 percent), and dirty (15 percent). More than half (52 percent) of Indian consumers now say that cash-only is a deal-breaker for doing business. • Businesses have been quick to respond. 69 percent of global business leaders have invested in digital payment capabilities. 64 percent of global business leaders have created new forms of customer engagement or changed their business models in response to COVID-19. • Comparatively, 93 percent of Indian business leaders have invested in digital payment capabilities and 81 percent of Indian business leaders have created new forms of customer engagement or changed their business models. “Managing finances is tough at the best of times, and the financial uncertainty of the global pandemic has exacerbated financial challenges at home and at work,” said Farnoosh Torabi, personal finance expert and host of the So Money podcast. “Robots are well-positioned to assist – they are great with numbers and don’t have the same emotional connection with money. This doesn’t mean finance professionals are going away or being replaced entirely, but the research suggests they should focus on developing additional soft skills as their role evolves.” “Financial processes in our personal and professional worlds have become increasingly digital for many years and the events of 2020 have accelerated that trend,” said Juergen Lindner, senior vice president, global marketing, Oracle. “Digital is the new normal and technologies such as artificial intelligence and chatbots play a vital role in managing finance. Our research indicates that consumers trust these technologies to accelerate their financial well-being over personal financial advisors and business leaders see this trend reshaping the role of corporate finance professionals.

Click the link to access the article: https://www. enterpriseitworld.com/ JANUARY 2021 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD 23

CISO TALK // CYBER ATTACKS

THREE-LAYER DEFENSIVE MEASURES CAN PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS FROM CYBERATTACKS

BY SANJAY@ACCENTINFOMEDIA.COM

board of directors typically organizes itself into several committees—some standing committees and often some ad hoc committees. The exact charge of these committees varies among enterprises, but some expectations on how different committees can have an impact on cybersecurity risk reporting are described here. Standing committees typically include an executive committee to oversee the chief executive, a governance committee that provides oversight to the board, a finance or budget committee that is responsible for revenues and expenses, and an audit committee that oversees financial reporting and disclosure. Some enterprises also have a risk committee that focuses on sources of strategic, financial, compliance and operational (including cybersecurity) risk. Boards vary in their structures, but governance of cybersecurity operations typically comes from either the risk or audit committee—and sometimes both. It is typically the role of an enterprise risk management (ERM) function to establish a risk governance framework to provide these committees the information they need to provide appropriate oversight. A generic design principle to accomplish this is to use the Three Layer of Defense (3LoD) model. The 3LoD model provides layers of management controls to protect against risk. The model evolved in the late 1990s and was codified in a 2013 paper by the Institute of Internal Auditors 24 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD JANUARY 2021

(IIA).55 Since then, it has become a cornerstone of most risk management frameworks and is referenced in the ISACA Risk IT Framework. 66 A description of the foundation of this framework follows. “BOARDS VARY IN THEIR STRUCTURES, BUT GOVERNANCE OF CYBERSECURITY OPERATIONS TYPICALLY COMES FROM EITHER THE RISK OR AUDIT COMMITTEE— AND SOMETIMES BOTH.” First Layer of Defense (1L) These are the control and risk owners who have operational responsibility for managing enterprise risk. Typically, these owners include the personnel in IT that are responsible for the day-to-day operation of technology controls. For example, business process owners set the requirements, and IT professionals develop software and systems to meet those requirements. Second Layer of Defense (2L) The second line is a relatively new addition to the assurance world and encompasses risk management and compliance functions. The goal of the second line of defense is to provide checks and oversight on the responsibility of the first line of defense. This line sets the standards either explicitly, by publishing internal policies and standards, or implicitly, by its influence in an advisory function and creating issues and findings. In

KAZI NAZRUL ISLAM

CYBER SECURITY ARCHITECT

some enterprises, the 2L reports independently of operations and directly to the chief executive officer (CEO) or the chief risk officer (CRO). Third Layer of Defense (3L) The third line of defense is the internal audit, which provides independent validation of the functions of the first line and second line of defense. The 3L reports independently, outside of operations, and directly to the CEO. IT risk management can also have a 1.5 line of defense (1.5L). This function sits between the first and second lines of defense and shares roles and responsibilities of both. The 1.5L is typically a function assigned to IT risk management, because it operates inside a security function and, therefore, alongside security control operators. Because information risk management typically has a large scope of work, the amount of technology in use is often too much for a pure second line-of-defense function to oversee. In enterprises that use a 1.5L, the 2L tends to oversee checks done by the 1.5L instead of doing its own detailed checks of the first line. These lines of defense connect to the board committees to report on risk. The 3LoD traditionally aligned to the board audit committee, giving them independent oversight of the performance of the enterprise controls. As the second line of defense developed, so too did the board risk committee. Thus, 2L work products are delivered to the risk committee in a way that is similar to the 3L reporting to the audit committee.

SOPHOS // SECURITY

SOPHOS UNCOVERS NEW DELIVERY AND EVASION TECHNIQUES USED BY AGENT TESLA TO BYPASS SECURITY

Sophos published new research into Agent Tesla, “Agent Tesla Amps Up Information Stealing Attacks,” which details new evasive techniques

attackers are using to disable endpoint protection before they deliver the malware and install and run the payload. The techniques feature a multi-stage process where a .NET downloader grabs chunks of malware from legitimate third-party websites such as pastebin and hastebin – where they are hosted in plain sight – and then joining, decoding and decrypting the chunks to form the loader that carries the malicious payload. At the same time, the malware attempts to alter code in Microsoft’s Anti-Malware Software Interface (AMSI) – a Windows feature that enables applications and services to integrate with installed security products – so that AMSIenabled endpoint security protection doesn’t work, and the payload can download, install and run without being blocked. Agent Tesla is a widely used information stealer and Remote Access Tool (RAT), known since 2014. The creators advertise it for sale on darkweb forums and constantly update it. Attackers generally distribute the malware through malicious spam emails as an attachment.

The new Sophos research looks in-depth at the two versions of Agent Tesla that are currently circulating. Both feature recent updates, such as the number of applications targeted for credential theft, including web browsers, email clients, virtual private network clients, and other software that store usernames and passwords. They also have the ability to capture keystrokes and record screenshots. However, differences between the two versions demonstrate how attackers have recently evolved the RAT by employing multiple types of defense evasion and obfuscation to avoid detection. These include options to install and use the Tor anonymizing network client, as well as the Telegram messaging API for command and control (C2) communications and the targeting of Microsoft’s AMSI. “Agent Tesla malware has been active for more than seven years, yet it remains one of the most common threats to Windows users. It has been among the top malware families distributed via email in 2020. In December, Agent Tesla payloads accounted for around 20% of malicious email attachment attacks intercepted by Sophos scanners,” said Sean Gallagher, senior security researcher, Sophos. “A variety of attackers use the malware to steal user credentials and other information from targets through screenshots, keyboard logging and clipboard capture. “The most widespread delivery method for Agent Tesla is malicious spam—such as the emails we highlighted in our RATicate research. Sophos believes that cybercriminals will continue to update the malware and modify it to evade endpoint and email protection tools. The email accounts used to spread Agent Tesla are often legitimate accounts that have been compromised. Organizations and individuals should, as always, treat email attachments from unknown senders with caution, and verify all attachments before opening them.” Recommended IT admin checklist for email security n Install an intelligent, security solution that can screen, detect and block suspicious emails and their attachments before they reach users n Implement the recognised authentication standards to verify emails are what they claim to be n Educate employees to spot the warning signs of suspicious emails and what to do if they encounter one n Advise users to double check that emails come from the address and the person they claim to n Advise users to never open attachments or click on links in emails from unknown senders JANUARY 2021 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD 25

BY SANJAY@ACCENTINFOMEDIA.COM

INTERVIEW // PARTNER STRATEGY

What are some key milestones from Epsilon in 2020? We’ve made some great progress throughout 2020 despite the challenges experienced by many businesses. Some of our recent milestones include the acquisition of 7D Digital, which is the company that supported the development of our Network as a Service (NaaS) platform, Infiny. We saw an opportunity to bring the whole 7D team into Epsilon to focus even more resources into the platform, and the best way to do this was through acquiring the company. The team at 7D have fully integrated into the team at Epsilon, and we’re really excited to have them onboard and to continue our development for Infiny. More recently, we announced a partnership with a company called Aviatrix to help deliver our new multi-cloud networking solution. It’s an endto-end multi-cloud service with the automation, operational visibility and control that enterprises need to simplify cloud networking. Bundled with our network and existing direct cloud connect capabilities, our cloud networking service offering addresses the real challenges in enterprise networking to, within and across the clouds. This is a first-of-its-kind partnership where we combine our expertise in global connectivity with Aviatrix’s cloud network platform. We can now deliver private, secure and highspeed cloud-to-cloud connectivity via our private network. What makes this unique is that it is an end-to-end service that connects branch offices and data centres all the way to the VPC/VNET. As a whole, we’re really focusing our energy into enhancing our capabilities, services and products. We already have a strong ecosystem with cloud providers, networks and internet exchanges across 260+ points of presence (PoPs) in 41 cities globally, with major footprint across the Asia-Pacific including mainland China. Our differentiator lies in our NaaS platform, Infiny, and our partner strategy. There are not many companies out there that can offer their customers the best-in-class solutions like we do, with the same level of responsiveness and flexibility. A huge part of that comes from partnering with top companies across different tech sectors, which can provide us with the tools we need to serve even more of our customers’ needs. Our goal is to enable businesses to connect to the global cloud infrastructure they need in a simple and powerful way. Why did you choose to partner with Aviatrix, rather than build a solution yourself? By partnering, we can deliver best-of-breed solutions to our customers more quickly and with greater scale than if we had built the solution 26 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD JANUARY 2021

M I C H E L

R O B E R T

CEO of Epsilon

Some of the features include advanced multi-cloud functionality, enterprise-class networking and security and network abstraction.

ourselves. We appreciate that we can’t be experts in everything – there are companies out there that are specialists in certain fields. Rather than competing against that, we believe in partnering with some of these companies to offer the best possible solutions to our customers. We reviewed multiple partners and chose Aviatrix as a technical partner for our multi-cloud service as their offering is complementary to our business model and products. Our joint solution is the first of its kind, using Epsilon’s private network as the

underlay and Aviatrix’s cloud network platform as the overlay. What does the joint EpsilonAviatrix offering looking like? What are its features? Epsilon Cloud Networking is an end-to-end multi-cloud service with automation, visibility and control, delivered in a simple way for enterprises to unlock the full potential of multi-cloud in their businesses.

PARTNER STRATEGY // INTERVIEW

OUR DIFFERE NTIATOR LIES IN OUR NAAS PLATFORM Some of the features include advanced multicloud functionality, enterprise-class networking and security and network abstraction. Unlike traditional cloud networking, the multi-cloud service directly controls native cloud networking constructs to provide cloud simplicity and automation. We give enterprises the ability to move data between cloud environments, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud. To get into the details, the solution uses Epsilon’s private network as the underlay and the Aviatrix cloud network platform to create an enterprise-class network inside and between public clouds. It also allows customers to consume security services, such as FQDN filtering and service insertion of next-generation firewalls, to meet their security and compliance requirements. It leverages a multi-cloud network architecture with a common network data and operational control plane, with point and click workflows and infrastructure as code automation. This allows customers to have control within and across clouds – beyond the cloud gateways all the way to the VPC/VNET level, which is a real differentiator for us. What enterprise challenges does it solve? Why do enterprises need a multi-cloud solution like this? Business transformation is on the rise, and more enterprise IT organisations are starting to use public cloud for their applications and data. The pandemic has really increased the pace of this transformation, which has caused challenges for enterprises including limited visibility, lack of network control and skill gaps.

A lot of enterprises don’t achieve expected return on investment (ROI) in cloud because of operational and network complexity. While many enterprises have started application migrations to the cloud, cost management remains an issue. On top of this, many cloud providers don’t provide detailed operational visibility or security. Our goal with our multi-cloud solution is to enable businesses to tackle these challenges more effectively. Our solution makes cloud networking simple for enterprises. The service provides everything an enterprise needs to transform their cloud networking through a single relationship. How is multi-cloud different from the cloud connectivity solutions that you already offered to customers? Our Cloud Connect solution provides the global infrastructure and network orchestration needed to easily connect to one or multiple cloud providers using our dedicated, carrier-grade ethernet services. Our multi-cloud solution offers connectivity within and across the clouds, all the way to the VPC/VNET level. It enables enterprises to directly control their cloud networking between multiple clouds using a multi-cloud platform, whereas Cloud Connect simply provides the connectivity to the cloud service providers via on-ramps. How does Epsilon choose partners? What kinds of partners are you looking for? We choose our partners by looking at aspects of our services that can be enhanced with partner solutions. We’re looking for any partners with interesting solutions that can help us take our current offering to the next level.

Our NaaS platform Infiny currently offers three powerful networking solutions – Interconnection between the leading data centres, direct cloud connections to cloud hyperscalers and access to the world’s largest internet exchanges. We also have an Access solution for connecting branch offices, on-prem data centres and partner locations around the world to the Epsilon network and its cloud networking and interconnection services. What do you think will define the networking market in 2021? What do you expect in the new year? I think that in 2021, we’ll continue to see strong enterprise demand due to increased cloud adoption, remote working and continuous digital transformation. That’s why we believe that our multi-cloud service comes at the right time for us to enable business growth in the cloud. With more enterprises embracing a multi-cloud strategy, they’ll need a simple solution for connecting their clouds and unleashing their full potential, which we can now deliver to them. On top of this, I think we’ll see drive towards platform-centric connectivity. There are many variations – NaaS, software-defined networking (SDN), software-defined interconnect (SDI) – but they all mean the same thing. These platforms deliver global connectivity using a self-service model, allowing the customers to buy and manage their network services on-demand. Our NaaS platform Infiny makes it much simpler for businesses of all kinds to meet their connectivity needs in one place. It’s all about removing the need to manage multiple vendor relationships. As the networking ecosystem gets more and more complex, I think businesses will be looking out for the simplest and fastest way to connect globally, which we’re able to do. What will Epsilon’s priorities be in 2021? What will success look like? In 2021 we’ll continue to build and enhance every aspect of our business, across data, voice and colocation. However, our main priority will be in growing the data networking portion of our business. There are also several markets that we’re looking to grow in such as Asia Pacific and mainland China. Of course, working with our existing partners and establishing new partnerships are priorities. On the services and operations side of things, we have started major work on enhancing our network and platform and will continue to do so in 2021. At the end of the day, we want to deliver better connectivity solutions to our customers by simplifying how they connect and ensuring that they enjoy the best possible end-to-end service experience. JANUARY 2021 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD 27

NETWORKING // IT NETWORK

HOW THE PANDEMIC IS CHALLENGING YOUR IT NETWORK

The pandemic of 2020 has made the concept of remote teams and remote work collaboration a reality. Previously used by digitally mature and advanced organizations, like high-tech companies, the requirement of enabling mobile work triggered by the need for social isolation across much of 2020, has forced all organizations to adapt to this new reality. Transformation of the physical workplace has been a logical consequence, whether at home or at the office. Team members whether they are part of the family working at home, or employees when they are working from the office by rotation, will usually not sit at any one physical location. They need to be able to work equally well from any place in the office work area. Wi-Fi network connectivity and power over the Ethernet networks (PoE) need to be ubiquitously available and scalable across such places of work. Flexibility and scalability of the Wi-Fi network access points, access to the Ethernet, and availability of Power over the Ethernet, are now prerequisites to support teams working in the “new normal”. While places of work, whether they are supporting the family working and schooling at home, or employees at the office premises, are transforming, on a much wider scale, networks within buildings themselves are also transforming. Just a few years ago, the convergence of voice into IP based, LAN data networks, was a high point of disruption and innovation. Since then, there has been a relentless trend into converging siloed networking systems into IP networks. Today, these include security systems, building management systems, access entry systems, biometric systems, digital signage, low voltage power, LED lighting. This has spawned the term – ‘Everything over IP’ or an ‘All-IP’ approach in the convergence of isolated networks. The benefits of this convergence of networks are many, fueling continuous industry innovation and end user adoption. Such, ‘Everything over IP’ networks, offer significant benefits ranging from savings in power, cost, time for installation, activation, modifications and upgrades of networks. Such types of networks also reduce the chances 28 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD JANUARY 2021

of network failures and downtime and because of their ability to rapidly scale up or down, match today’s requirements demanded by agile organizations. However, all these innovations and transformations are also putting pressure on the design and architecture of networks. These include: n Mapping the networks to match the functional distribution of workers. In others words, there should be more network points and connectivity, wherever there is more employee activity. Working areas with a high density of people and devices should also have the provision to provide higher network connectivity and power usage. n Creation of active consolidation points to allow networks to scale. Creation of consolidation points allow the network to support an unlimited number of devices in theory. In practice, it means it should be possible to create additional network points on demand. n Fibre To The Office (FTTO), can be used to boost redundancy and longevity. FTTO is a centralized LAN cabling technology that combines passive fibre cabling with active switches

ARAFAT YOUSEF, MANAGING DIRECTOR MIDDLE EAST AFRICA NEXANS DATA NETWORK SOLUTIONS

and requires no floor distributors or technical rooms. Combining fibre and copper offers the advantages of a fibre infrastructure, while end user devices can be connected with a standard copper connection, guaranteeing no changes in usage and comfort for the end user. The concept of a digital ceiling solution is becoming increasingly relevant in digitally advanced buildings. The traditional LAN network is now being deployed vertically to support growing installation of ceiling access points, surveillance cameras, motion sensors, indoor atmospherics, amongst others. A digital ceiling approach combined with an FTTO solution could bring significant benefits in terms of flexibility and scalability to the building’s IT network infrastructure. The benefits of such, single converged networks, that support the connectivity requirements of agile organizations, are being realized every day. Hot-desking and smart desking are now logical and functional solutions realized in the office work space. For network administrators, managing a single network for operations, performance and efficiency offers huge time and cost savings.

CYBERCRIMINALS // SECURITY

ROSES ARE RED, VIOLETS ARE BLUE, CYBERCRIMINALS ARE READY TO COME AFTER YOU!

EMAIL SUBJECT: VALENTINE’S DAY GIVE THE GIFT THEY REALLY WANT…

PHISHING WEBSITE:

The month of February is always when people think of new ways to celebrate their love for their partners. It is also when cyber-criminals, as previously reported, think of new and creative ways to target and lure new victims with malicious activity. Especially during the current global restrictions enforced by the pandemic, which has driven significant increases in online shopping. As people go online to purchase gifts for their loved ones during this period, Check Point Research (CPR) has observed a surge in malicious phishing email campaigns in the second half of January with over 400 malicious Valentine’s day themed individual phishing emails weekly. A real-life phishing email example: a Pandora lookalike campaign Most of the phishing scams are focused on buyer fraud, and in some cases have reused themes and webpages from past phishing campaigns. For example, we found an email pretending to be from Pandora that was similar to one that we saw being used in Black Friday related

campaigns in November 2020. The email’s aim was, as usual, to entice the user into purchasing jewelry items by offering them at unreasonably cheap prices, on a fake Pandora webpage which tries to imitate the look and feel of the real site. In the following example, you will notice that in the fraudulent email the year has not changed (“2020 Pandora Official site” instead of 2021) and the company address is written in lower-case (“northern lakes lane, laurel, md, 20723”). These are signs that the email is from a dubious source, and the website is fake. Of course, the sender name has been changed to imitate the brand, but the email address is clearly not related to it. Anyone who clicks on the links in the email will be redirected to a fraudulent page (www[.] pcharms[.]com) which tries to imitate the “Pandora” website. Why phishing attacks are so dangerous Today’s phishing attacks can be extremely targeted. They are usually well planned , and backed by a huge amount of research. To ensure

they are successful, attackers spend a lot of time studying their prey. Phishing attacks leverage different attack vectors, but the most common one is email. Other common attack vectors are phishing sites and text messages usually aimed at stealing credentials to perform account takeovers. These can lead to devastating results such as data loss, fraudulent money transfers and more. As mentioned, since these attacks are specifically designed to exploit the human nature of wanting a good deal, it is extremely important to prevent these attacks from ever reaching their desired victims – because even the most vigilant and cyber-savvy amongst us can sometimes get fooled. Spike in Valentine’s Day themed domains In addition, throughout January CPR has observed a spike in the number of new Valentine’s Day themed domains registered. Out of the 23,000 new domains, 0.5% (115) were found to be malicious, and 1.8% (414) found to be suspicious. In general, there was a 29% increase in such domains registered in January, in time for the Valentine’s Day season. How do you avoid falling victim to these fraud attempts? Here is what we recommend for a safer online experience: 1. Verify you are ordering online from an authentic source. One way to do this is NOT to click on promotional links in emails, and instead Google your desired retailer and click the link from the Google results page. 2. Never share your credentials. Credential theft is a common goal of cyberattacks. Many people reuse the same usernames and passwords across many different accounts, so stealing the credentials for a single account is likely to give an attacker access to a number of the user’s online accounts. Never share your account credentials and don’t re-use passwords. Click the link to access the article: https://www. enterpriseitworld.com/ JANUARY 2021 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD 29

THE STUFF // PRODUCTS & SERVICES

CIO TOYS

B Y S A N J AY @ A C C E N T I N FO M E D I A . C O M

ESSENTIAL TOOLS FOR REMOTE WORKERS FOR SMART & EFFICIENT COLLABORATION BY POLY

Over the last one-year, remote working has picked up at an unprecedented pace and now more than ever before, people are working in places outside of the conventional ‘office’. While there are plenty of perks for employees who work remotely like better-work life balance and improved productivity due to reduced commute time, they also face several challenges like increased distractions and background noise. Given that many industry experts predict that the future of work is hybrid working, i.e. employees splitting their time between remote working and working in office, it is imperative that organisations equip their employees with the right collaboration tools, no matter the work location. For Poly, the pandemic has ripped the bandaid off what we already knew: work is work, whether or not there’s a workplace. People still need to connect reliably and clearly to perform. As offices reopen, video and audio solutions will be more essential to connect to workers outside the office. The future of work requires sophisticated equipment that’s easy to use, platform agnostic and reliable. Below are the best tools from Poly, the collaboration industry expert that enables workers to be productive or connected no matter where they are. n POLY SYNC USB/BLUETOOTH SMART SPEAKERPHONES – A remarkable sounding three-in-one device, it’s a personal speakerphone, a portable music speaker and a smartphone charger all in one. Its compact, sleek design and carrying case make it perfect for users on the go. The USB and Bluetooth speakerphones are designed to enable today’s need to work from 30 ENTERPRISE IT WORLD JANUARY 2021

anywhere – whether that’s a remote work location at home or a conference room in the office. Poly Sync speakerphone’s USB and Bluetooth® connectivity options offer flexibility, while its intelligent microphones can easily detect voices throughout the room to enable crisp audio quality for both work and entertainment. For seamless voice integration, connect Poly Sync speakerphones to your Siri or Google voice assistant and check even more off your to-do list without lifting a finger n POLY EAGLEEYE MINI HD VIDEO CONFERENCING CAMERA – You may have heard the acronym K.I.S.S. before, but as it turns out, Keep It Stupid Simple is a design principle that was first used by the US Navy in 1960. Effectively, it means that any designs or systems should be as simple as possible. In that vein, the EagleEye Mini is about as simple as it gets: Installing the device is as easy as plugging it in; no drivers required for installation means you’ll be ready to start conferencing in just seconds. This handy little USB-powered HD video conferencing camera connects to your laptop or home computer, and features 1080P HD video to bring clarity to your meetings, while 4x electronic zoom and 74-degree field of view makes conference calls feel like in-person meetings. n POLY VOYAGER FOCUS UC -Even though you may be working from home office, your favorite café, or even the office, distractions are everywhere. The day you work from home might be when your neighbor decides to start on their home renovations. An excited group of teenagers in conversation might decide to sit down at the table next to yours at the café (with proper social distancing, of course). Or your office colleagues might decide to start singing

“Happy Birthday” to someone in the group as you’re trying to get on with an important conference call. A headset like the Voyager Focus UC comes in handy with its ability to filter out the background noise, while projecting your voice clearly and confidently so your contribution to the meeting can be heard. When it’s time to take a music break between a back-to-back calls, the Voyager Focus UC delivers rich bass, crisp highs, and natural mid-tones to let you enjoy your favorite tunes. n POLY VOYAGER 6200 UC – Here’s a headset for those that want something professional yet versatile. The Voyager 6200 UC neckband delivers professional-grade audio performance for mobile and PC calls and features an immersive stereo for the music lovers. The earbud is comfortable, stable, fits nearly all ear sizes and shapes and is easy to put on and take off, while the neckband contours to any user while remaining lightweight. And if you’re afraid of missing calls because it is so comfortable you forgot you are even wearing a neckband headset? Fret not, the vibrating neckband signals you to incoming calls and alerts. Bring your voice to the forefront and minimize distractions with its four omni-directional microphones – the person on the end will thank you for the hyper-clarity audio (you’re welcome). Finally, let’s face it, as digital natives; none of us work on one device at a time – switching between the computers, the tablet, the phone. The Voyager 6200 UC can pair with up to eight devices, connecting to two at a time.

Click the link to access the article: https://www. enterpriseitworld.com/

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