The recently launched Global Data Protection Index 2021 by Dell Technologies reveals that organizations are facing several data protection challenges driven by the constant threat of ransomware and the consumption of emerging technologies, such as cloud-native applications, Kubernetes containers, and artificial intelligence. It also highlights how organizations globally are combating continued data growth and increased data protection complexities. Mr. Ripu Bajwa, Director & General Manager, Data Protection Solutions, Dell Technologies India, shares his views with CRN India:
- Please elaborate on the current data protection landscape in India?
Businesses have found themselves to be inadequately equipped to manage large volumes of data, especially with different working models. The area of attack has now moved beyond the parameter. Securities and vulnerabilities occur from anywhere. Currently, people are accessing corporate applications from home, from VPNs, and even from remote places leading to multiple exposures that need to be addressed by an organization.
Businesses in India and globally, face threats from external factors, especially cybercriminals who attack in various formats; they attack in groups, form consortiums, and dwell on your data center. The threat landscape has changed in the last 18 months. India has witnessed a rise in cyber incidents by three times, which is close to 1.15 million as per the CERT India report. This shows that many of these threats are from external factors. Therefore, organizations need to take care of their data, manage security and data exchange between organizations, and continue digital initiatives to deliver real value to their customers. As a result, India’s IT landscape has evolved significantly over the last 12 months to address these new threats.
- What are the key findings of the 2021 Global Data Protection Index?
The India results of the 2021 Global Data Protection Index (GDPI) survey provides insights into the current security landscape, the threats faced by businesses in India, and the confidence of business leaders regarding the safety of their data.
-We found that 66% of respondents in India (Global: 62%, APJ: 68%) are concerned that their existing data protection measures may not be sufficient to cope with malware and ransomware threats, while 74% (Global: 74%, APJ: 72%) agree that they have increased exposure to data loss from cyber threats with the growth of employees working from home
- 42% of respondents in India (Global: 67%, APJ: 67%), lack confidence that all their business-critical data can be recovered in the event of a destructive cyber-attack or data loss
- 70% of respondents in India (Global: 63%, APJ: 64%) believe emerging technologies—such as cloud-native applications, Kubernetes containers, artificial intelligence, and machine learning pose a risk to data protection, and the lack of data protection solutions for newer technologies was one of the top three data protection challenges for organizations
- On average, globally, the cost of data loss in the last 12 months is approaching four times higher for organizations using multiple data protection vendors as compared to those using a single-vendor approach. This means that the value of data itself has gone up four times highlighting how critical it is for organizations to keep their data secure as they will be able to bounce back in case of a cyber-attack, recover key crown jewels and also keep the business alive. These are the few key findings of our report in the context of security and data protection.
- How well are businesses managing incremental growth of data?
Businesses are making sure that they manage the growth of data with the appropriate architecture and technology. From a data deduplication perspective, efficient technology has been introduced to reduce the amount of data by storing and eliminating the storage of similar data again. Further, not all data created is the same, so it is important to categorize the data. Businesses need to have different service level agreements (SLAs) for protecting data from the sensitivity point of view. In this context, businesses are building the right infrastructure layers to ensure that their data stays protected, well stored, and is accessible in real-time.
They can also analyze the data and get actionable insights to make business-critical decisions. Right data, at the right level, with the right people, and right use, is critical. Businesses are gearing up towards managing and capitalizing on this new wave of the data era. They are looking at data to be their ‘secret sauce’ for growth. Being able to turn actionable insights from data can lead to new levels of differentiation to serve their customers in a better way.
Overall, when it comes to managing data growth, businesses are looking at efficient architectures, appropriate levels of SLAs, the right technology access, and smart management.
- How can a business benefit by adopting an access service approach in the current times?
As per the report, 54% of the businesses in India think they are far more likely to pursue a vendor, which has multiple as-a-Service offerings than looking for multiple vendors to help build robust IT. This means that organizations want to deal with fewer partners because it reduces their risk and gives them the ease of dealing with a single vendor to manage more services. In this context, it is important to note, most of these organizations have found that they should offload their work to experts who can provide them with outcomes rather than learning technology and managing a new form of hardware or software all by themselves. Many businesses look at ‘as-a-service offering’ for computing, network, storage, and backup. We have also observed that they look at Dell Technologies’ infrastructure as-a-service offering, as our services are much more efficient in consuming technology. Hence, businesses that can provide multiple offerings as a service model definitely will be more successful.
- Can you give some more examples or mention a few case studies to our readers?
We have seen businesses across verticals such as BFSI, manufacturing, retail, and healthcare be subject to additional regulatory standards that affect data protection. There is a need for accurate technology to consume, store, and protect their storage from the very first instance of their application development. Security is intrinsic; our philosophy of security has been that “security should be built-in”. At Dell Technologies, we ensure we adhere to all the right protocols to keep the data secure. Right from the secured development of product life cycle to delivering products with the highest level of security in their in-flight or at rest, between clouds, On-Prem, Off-Prem, hybrid, and so on.
I believe the two dimensions of security are processes and people. Businesses are increasingly aware of data management with the right governance so that there is no compromise. After all, you may have the right technology, but without the right processor or people to manage, you can run into problems. Therefore, adopting the right practice is as important as working together with IT and security teams. Also, ensure that your organization is rightly skilled.
From a cyber-security perspective, building technology standards that can help you come out of a cyber-attack in no time is critical. Therefore, in India, we’ve seen businesses increasingly investing in security and deploying new services with no fear.
- Lastly, would you like to share a special message for our readers?
Keeping it simple, we should be aware of our roles and responsibilities. The impact of any attack is much higher than the ransom. Everyone is responsible, not just the IT team. We need to make sure the transaction of data between entities is secure and individuals controlling the data are authorized. Therefore, one has to be very careful in terms of how they are managing and transacting data.
In due course, technology will play a significant role, and with that, there is a need for awareness to handle the technology and the processes.
