The Hindu Business Line : Keep out the data thieves

Mobile computing devices such as notebook personal computers (PCs), personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smart phones have become an indispensable part of modern enterprise as also lifestyle. Such devices often contain valuable and confidential data. However, most such devices lack the physical and security access controls necessary to maintain security in non-secure environments. As a consequence, data stored on such endpoint devices is at a greater risk than the transmitted data. Even devices disposed of could host valuable data, caution experts.

Altaf Halde, Country Manager, Pointsec Mobile Technology, shares with eWorld the challenges of providing security to such devices and how endpoint security has assumed significant importance, of late, with the delivery of information through various devices. Excerpts.

How do you see the endpoint security market from a global perspective and in the Indian context?

Globally, full disc encryption has emerged as one of the most important data security tools. In the developed economies, most executives rely on their mobile devices to carry data and other important information. Most countries in Europe and US have a strong IT policy that gives importance to Data Security and some insist that data is to be in an encrypted format. In mid-2005, US-based financial services companies designed the BITS Product Certifications Programme that helps these financial services companies to mitigate technology risk and help protect their nation's critical infrastructure. BITS-certified products are slowly being made mandatory in Financial Organisations.

In due course of time, it will be mandatory for any US-based organisation planning India operations or outsourcing its work to India to use BITS-certified products. The Indian economy is growing rapidly and so is the demand for security within an organisation. Pointsec (India) is involved in creating awareness about the importance of endpoint device security and how it can help enterprises save their critical data.

The Indian Security market offers interesting insights. The market is growing. About 83 per cent of all Indian businesses have reported security breaches. Globally, it was 64 per cent as per IDC. The annual IT security spending is estimated to be Rs 480 crore by 2008 (IDC). Barely 1 per cent of the IT budget is spent on security in India as against 4.8 per cent globally.

How does Pointsec plan to address this?

The IT security market in India could be about Rs 350 crore for 2005-06. Of this, 60 per cent would be from product sales and the balance from services. The growth momentum is surely going to be on the services front. Managed Services are going to be the focus area of most of the solution providers.

Gartner has named Pointsec as the leader in mobile device security solutions space. It is also a leader in encryption solutions.

The Indian IT Security market is growing at a rapid pace and has gained momentum and moved on from the time when the meaning of IT Security was Anti-Virus. Even now the general perception of corporates on IT security policy is confined to AntiVirus, Firewall, AntiSpam, Anti Malware, VPN, Intrusion Prevention, Intrusion Detection and Email Security. Threat to data from internal sources is the crucial missing link.

In-house staff could compromise data. Corporates have started addressing this through authentication and encryption solutions.

The security concerns sparked by the proliferation of mobile devices...

Since the rise of mobile computing devices, two security concerns have cropped up. First is the device value, and then the data stored. The degree of concern has reversed dramatically as the replacement cost of notebook PCs, PDAs and smartphones plunges inexorably downward, while the value and amount of data these machines process continues to soar.

A recent Gartner study claims that over 80 per cent of new and critical data now resides on mobile devices. The trend toward mobile computing is reinforced by much larger hard drives where 60 GB is now quite standard on business notebooks, backed by a variety of new data storage options, including flash drives, USB memory sticks and DVDs. Even MP3 entertainment devices greatly expand data storage options.

All industries using such mobile devices need to ensure the safety of that sensitive data residing on the mobile device. IT/ITES, telecom, healthcare, insurance, banking and finance and government sectors need to address data security.

Identity theft has become a major concern. How do you address this area?

Identity theft has become a major concern for large organisations, especially in the BFSI sector. To provide a comprehensive security on this aspect, authentication tools that carry digital signatures/authentication keys have been introduced.

Instances of data theft have surfaced. How do you help enterprises address this issue?

There cannot be 100 per cent security guarantee even if the customer is using the best of security solutions. The customer is made aware of the importance of endpoint device security. For example: If an Indian corporate decides to donate its PCs to a charitable organisation, these machines could potentially have valuable data. Even if a machine is formatted seven times, it is possible to extract the data. Therefore full disk encryption is important.

Pointsec's surveys on data theft have been insightful. Your plans for the Indian market?

Pointsec has appointed Select Technologies (part of the WeP group) as National Distributor. We have initiated India-specific surveys that will help demystify the myths about data security. This will also educate corporates about the importance of data security and how this problem can be effectively addressed.

The Indian market is growing so is the case with foreign investment. With stringent security rules in the US and the UK, companies here will have to take the issue of security very seriously.

Slowly, IT security heads in leading organisations are realising that though they have their network perimeters secured by using the very latest network security tools, it is very simple to compromise their sensitive data if the endpoint device is lost or stolen. Full disk encryption can definitely help in preventing sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands.

vrishi@thehindu.co.in