Tool to fight cyber threats launched

It seems that in the years to come, there is huge potential for the firms engaged in providing cyber security consultancy. Currently, the size of cyber security assessment in India is Rs 400-500 crore.

In spite of such a huge market, firms generally are reluctant to adopt the latest trends. So in order to cash in on the opportunity, Delhi-based, CyberQ Consulting Private Ltd has launched Holistic Information Security for companies.

Talking to Business Standard, CyberQ Consulting President Rajiv Nag said: "Information technology is fraught with new threats and obstacles, dangers the industry hasn't even begun to understand.

At the organisational level, the threat is extremely profound. Virus, worms, hackers, spam, disgruntled employees, porous networks, etc. are just some of the causes of concern for the 21st century organisation. Also, the lure of easy money has the potential of shaking up the entire industry."

"It is wrong to think that it is just the IT and ITES industries that have to worry about these threats. The old-age brick and mortar industry is getting increasingly dependent on IT. Stocks are being traded online; confidential information is being shared; new drugs, new designs, and new IPR are being shared online on a daily basis. There is an implicit need for information security in all these environments. The threat itself is too large to be ignored."

So, recognising the need to approach security at a holistic level to include all the three levels of security threats faced by enterprises, namely the application level, systems level and the network level, CyberQ launched its Holistic Information Security, having a portfolio of tools, methodology and check lists for enterprises, which would not only tackle security issues at all three levels, but also define and manage the interrelationships between these three layers and their information security requirements.

Nag said, "The idea is to make organisations aware of their complete information, security needs and inculcate a culture of information security management in organisations."

Considering the breadth of the Indian security market, surprisingly there are about three companies in the service. Commenting on the northern region, Nag said it had huge potential as more and more manufacturing sectors as well as IT companies are coming.

He said, "But the irony is that entrepreneurs are not implementing it due to being uninformed of the magnitude of the problem." CyberQ expects to tackle this through a mix of testing, auditing, facilitation and trainings.

This also weaves in security process re-engineering at both the technology and process levels. Vulnerabilities at the application level, the systems level, the network level and the organisational level are identified and dealt with.

A process of regular vulnerability monitoring is established: tools are evaluated and implemented, among other things.