Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Inputs from Tech Leaders

Cybersecurity Awareness Month is observed worldwide every October. This annual initiative serves as a reminder of the critical need to protect our digital lives and data from an ever-growing array of cyber threats. Today, tech leaders from well-known organisations have been vocal about the importance of this month, offering valuable insights and advice. Here are some notable quotes from these tech leaders:

Mr Manish Mimani,who is theFounder & CEOatProtectt.ai.

In Digital-first world, cyber security is the top Board agenda. Considering ever-evolving cyber threats and their disastrous impacts on businesses & individuals, it is more important than ever to make every individual more secure & empowered by creating awareness. As we say ‘Human is the weakest link in Cyber Security”, it can be overcome by promoting cyber awareness. Our aim is to foster a culture of adhering to cyber hygiene for everyone by building a cyber-resilient society. Cybersecurity awareness is a crucial element of national development. Organizations must create the right set of awareness internally & for customers to protect their digital assets in an increasingly interconnected and digital world.

Mr Sandeep Bhambure, Managing Director and Vice President -India & SAARC, Veeam Software With another Cybersecurity Awareness Month upon us, it’s a timely reminder of how important ongoing education and upskilling in the sector is - across all levels. We’ve seen several major cybersecurity incidents make waves across APJ, such as the Latitude and MOVEit data breaches, fueling ongoing conversations around how data is stored. The conversation is shifting from how a hack happened, to how organisations are protecting data, particularly how they are storing it. Data breaches are not only a threat towards reputation; attackers can also encrypt data, making it unrecoverable. Businesses should no longer think “if we get hacked” but rather, “when we get hacked, what is our recovery plan?”. By ensuring data recoverability, businesses can ensure business continuity in the case of a cyberattack. Veeam’s2023 Ransomware Trends Reportrevealed an overall increase in cybersecurity investment from organisations across Asia Pacific, with cyber prevention and backup budgets increasing by 5.4% and 5.6% respectively. For organisations to fully benefit from this increased investment, it is essential that they maintain strong communication across teams within the business, such as between IT and senior management. This ensures there is a clear and consistent cyber strategy in place with a business continuity plan to ensure efficient recovery in the case of an attack. IT leaders need to prepare their businesses for any attack. Finding the right backup solution and storing data smartly are precautions that businesses should take in addition to ongoing education and upskilling of employees on evaluating new technologies. Regularly maintaining the security of users, networks and data can reduce the chances of getting hacked and minimise data recovery time in the case of a breach.