Cybersecurity isn’t just about defending against external hackers; many threats come from within an organisation. These internal threats can be just as damaging, if not more so, due to the access and knowledge that insiders possess.

In this episode of the State of the Economy cybersecurity podcast, host KV Kurmanath discusses the various facets of internal cybersecurity challenges with Sundar Balasubramanian, Managing Director, India, and SAARC region, Check Point Software Technologies.

Sundar emphasises the importance of building a robust cybersecurity architecture, stating, “We advocate zero trust... it’s very important to have a very strong security posture from our customer’s standpoint.” He highlights the critical shortage of cybersecurity professionals in the industry, noting that “There is a need for about 40,000 certified cybersecurity professionals in the country,” which adds to the internal challenges organisations face.

He also sheds light on the often overlooked but crucial aspect of insider threats, saying, “Many data breaches stem from internal threats, which could be both malicious and accidental actions by employees or partners.” Sundar stresses the significance of education and prevention, remarking, “The only way we can counter this is to basically educate the employees... and advocate the use of strong tools to prevent any malicious intrusion.”

As organisations continue to migrate to cloud-based platforms, Sundar warns of the added complexities this brings: “We have graduated from phishing to vishing... the lack of understanding of cloud security has accelerated some of the internal threats.” In addressing how to handle failures in security, he adds, “In security, failures can happen. It’s very important to have a very strong incident response team to isolate, identify, and remediate the problem before it escalates.”

Listen in!

Host: KV Kurmanath, Producer: Siddharth Mathew Cherian

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