Indian techies driving next-gen cyber security architecture: McAfee CEO

As enterprises the world over scout for next-generation cyber security architecture to mitigate attacks, the Indian systems integrator (SI) community is helping major companies embrace state-of-the-art security structures, Chris Young, Chief Executive Officer of McAfee, has said.

"A lot of companies in India are trusted providers of cyber security solutions to firms around the world. Indian companies have the same challenge and opportunity as other companies. I think they have the right ability to drive the architectural model that other firms are using," Young told IANS on the sidelines on "MPOWER Cybersecurity Summit" here.

"Given the strength in the Indian SI community, they are actually playing a big part in helping other companies realise the next-generation architectural vision," he added.

With its largest research and development facility in Bengaluru — employing over a 1,000 engineers — the US-based McAfee's revenues are growing in double digits in India.

Over the next couple of years, the country is expected to become one of McAfee's top markets.

India is one of the fastest-growing markets for McAfee in the APAC region. McAfee has partnered with approximately 49 percent of ET 500 firms and aims to cover 60 percent — with an overall target to increase the customer base by 20 percent.

When asked to comment on the investment by the Indian organisations in the cyber security space, Young told IANS: "Several top firms in India have industry-leading cyber security operations and are working with the best available tools to ward off data breaches. They have some of the best people. I don't see underinvestment happening in the cyber security space in the country."

The time is ripe for companies globally to "move investment from where we have been to where we are going".

On ransomware, Young said that it has been in existence for 30 years, with first attack reported in late 1980s. But the year 2013 saw a surge in ransomware attacks.

"This probably took off owing to the change in the hackers' ability to monetise the attacks. Customers are witnessing data breaches which use exploits that go beyond malware itself. Hackers are using trusted tools to execute their sinister plans," Young noted.

Young said there is a need to adapt to the situation to avert adversaries by detecting the problems, correcting them and eventually protecting them against cyberattacks.

"We need to increase the capabilities of the first responders by 20 percent by keeping them up-to-date," he told reporters.

Globally, McAfee cybersecurity solutions protect more than a quarter-of-a-billion endpoints across every category of device, serve nearly two-third of the world's 2,000 largest companies and defend more than 200 million consumers each day.

To empower companies protect their systems, Young announced the launch of new endpoint and Cloud solutions during the event.

The solutions go beyond machine learning to take advantage of the speed and accuracy of advanced analytics, deep learning and artificial intelligence (AI), thus increasing efficiency of security operations.

The company also announced collaboration with networking and security major Cisco to provide customers comprehensive visibility and real-time security orchestration.