How Fortra is helping organisations in India strengthen their data protection strategies

The ongoing digital revolution in India, propelled by the Indian government’s vision for a digital atmanirbhar India and also partially sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic, has resulted in a significant surge in the volume and speed at which sensitive data is being processed. As a result, data privacy, security, and protection are fast becoming a major concern for the nation. Companies like Fortra are spearheading the revolution in the data protection landscape within the country by creating simpler, stronger and more straightforward cybersecurity solutions to help shape a more cyber secure future.

Raghunandan Koushik, Regional Sales Director for India & SAARC at Fortra, spoke to Miloni Bhatt, Editor – Digital Broadcast, Economictimes.com about the cybersecurity and data protection landscape in India including what organisations need to do to ensure effective data security, protection and the role Fortra is playing in implementing data protection strategies and solutions.

Indian regulators are taking cybersecurity and data protection very seriously. The Personal Data Protection bill, which is still in its draft stage, is expected to have a major impact on customers. “This protection bill which is going to be tabled shortly, will only act as an accelerator and it will make India into a much more mature data protection country than it was in any other time,” said Raghu.

Realising the importance and imminent need for data protection strategies, regulators like Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have already started taking action with regards to how data needs to be handled, without waiting for the bill to be legislated. They have drafted norms with regards to data protection, especially for the banking, financial and insurance sectors. Raghu added that we are seeing a massive push from regulators like the RBI to put big controls in place and give a lot of importance to data security monitoring.

Organisations across India are also prioritising data protection as more and more IP is being developed within the country. As Raghu mentioned, “Organisations today across verticals in India, are in a really accelerated mode in deploying and putting processes in place, hiring people, and doing all this to strengthen their data infrastructure.” He further believes that awareness levels regarding the importance of data protection in India are quite high with compliance helping a lot. However, he states that Indian organisations need to improve in areas related to identifying sensitive data, securing file transfers and addressing key egress channels.

This is where Fortra comes in, helping organisations strengthen and mature their cybersecurity and data protection measures. “We can be a data protection partner to our customers regardless of which stage they are in the whole process of data protection, because our approach is very comprehensive and it is contextual based…so if we look at our offerings they help customers right from the creation and identification of sensitive data, , to the stage of data retirement, we have the complete portfolio,” said Raghu.

However, he raised a concern regarding data privacy and protection on social media platforms. He said “Today there is a social media angle, and anything can happen on the dark web. Are you covering those egress channels also?” before going on to talk about emails and how it is still the most vulnerable sector with numerous breaches. He stated that over 90% of breaches happen over email.

Next, he talked about how Fortra can help customers secure data through a data-centric approach, rather than an infrastructure centric approach, regardless of where data is created and consumed, be that on premise, in the cloud, mobile or even social media platforms.

Raghu also emphasised how Fortra’s data protection approach does not let business activity compromise data security. “Let's say an email is sent out with an attachment, the employee is sending out potentially confidential information, they may not be intending to send it, but if you block the email, that may impact the business. So we do something called redaction, we still let the email go, but we redact the sensitive data in the attachment, thereby your data protection policy is also taken care of, and your business is not impacted,” he added.

Whether it's email security, anti-phishing, secure file transfer, or end-to-end data protection, it is important for organisations to have security partners like Fortra in today’s world. With continued digitalisation and growing reliance on technology and the internet, cybersecurity will only continue to be an increasingly important aspect of our lives. It is essential that organisations and regulators continue to evolve alongside an ever-changing cybersecurity realm to ensure a safer and more secure digital world.