CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Anant Deshpande, DigiCert Regional Vice President, India & ASEAN
- Overview of the digital security landscape in India
India has emerged as one of the top-3 countries for the highest detection of risk events in the first half of 2023. In the first half of 2023 itself, a substantial 5,609 online malware threats were identified. The country has witnessed a surge in cyber threats such as phishing, malware, and ransomware, making it a lucrative prospect for cyber criminals. The sectors most severely impacted were IT and ITeS, finance, and manufacturing. For smaller networks and individual systems, the restoration time averaged around 3 days and 1 day, respectively. Over the last decade, India has unfortunately emerged as one of the prime targets for cyber attacks globally, owing to its vast population of 1.3 billion people and a thriving economy. These statistics highlight the pressing need for heightened cybersecurity measures in the country to safeguard against these escalating threats.
How is DigiCert enhancing online security for businesses and individuals in India?
As a leading cybersecurity solution provider, DigiCert is the leading provider of Digital Trust and plays a foundational role in keeping India safe. Be it securing financial transactions, protecting mission critical applications across sectors, safeguarding personal data and interactions to defending connected devices, DigiCert’s expertise in the digital security space ensures a safer digital landscape for everyone in India. Digicert offers world class encryption ,and identity solutions spanning the entire gamut of digital Certificate lifecycle management, content and device trust, Software trust and DNS Security solutions.
What are some of the specific challenges and opportunities DigiCert has encountered while providing digital certificate and security solutions in the Indian market?
DigiCert has overcome various challenges while providing digital trust solutions in the Indian market. DigiCert has to work closely with Indian businesses to navigate the different compliance standards. Additionally, we have also streamlined our approach to addressing the specific needs of diverse industries and businesses in India, each with unique security requirements, has been a hurdle.
However, the rise of cyber incidents due to ransomware, insecure API’s, access management, and the need for cloud security, have opened multiple opportunities for DigiCert in India. In India’s growing digital landscape, the increasing adoption of online services and e-commerce has created a demand for robust cybersecurity solutions. DigiCert has seized this opportunity by offering tailored, innovative products, catering to the evolving needs of Indian businesses and individuals. Partnering with local enterprises and fostering collaborations has also allowed DigiCert to establish a strong presence and contribute significantly to enhancing cybersecurity in India.
How is DigiCert working to assist organizations in achieving compliance with local and international standards?
The recent regulations in India give paramount importance to safeguarding digital privacy and fostering trust in the digital ecosystem. This is a goal that DigiCert has been working towards for a long time now. The legislation aligns with our commitment to enhancing online security. Such initiatives are pivotal in ensuring a secure, transparent, and privacy-conscious online environment in India.
DigiCert is committed to assisting enterprises in meeting local and international standards by providing innovative cybersecurity solutions. DigiCert helps companies comply with industry-specific legislation and regulatory requirements by leveraging its experience in not only digital certificates and encryption technology, but also extending this core capability to solving the most complex of challenges that business’ face. Today Digicert forms part of the ‘core stack’ of some of the most complex IT operations in the country. Our conformity to industry standards and rich set of integrations with industry leading platforms enable our customers to thrive in today’s dynamic environment while ensuring regulatory compliance.
DigiCert’s focus areas in India
Digicert is a well known name in India Inc and is fairly ubiquitously deployed across segments and verticals in India notably in the Banking & Insurance, IT & ITeS, Telecom, Manufacturing and Digital Native Sectors to name a few. Our solutions are an integral part of meeting compliance requirements be it GDPR, PCI DSS , NIST, ISO and many more. Let’s look at a few specific use cases that everyday users can easily relate to. Digicert is extensively used across Enterprises to secure emails so that every email is encrypted with S/MIME certificates that prevent message hijacking and manipulation. India is the Software hub of the world and our solutions find widespread use in securing the software development lifecycle with code signing capabilities that support policies around key issuance, management, storage and signing permissions so that the software that you use everyday is free from compromises. Finally HTTPS everyway is the all too familiar protocol that has become part of our daily lives that provides authentication of the website’s identity, connection and integrity thereby providing an encrypted , safe and reliable browsing experience.
What innovations and solutions does DigiCert have in store to meet the evolving security needs of businesses and consumers in India?
In response to the rapidly evolving digital landscape, DigiCert is at the forefront of innovation, developing advanced solutions to address the dynamic security needs of businesses and consumers in India. DigiCert focuses on pioneering technologies like quantum-safe cryptography, ensuring data protection even against future quantum threats. We also announced upgrades in DigiCert ONE – our unique and powerful industry leading platform to enable Digital Trust . The DC One platform addresses five areas of digital business that require trust: enterprise trust, device trust, software trust, document trust and DNS trust. The DigiCert ONE platform enables companies to secure servers, devices, users, software, documents and other content across their digital infrastructure. Additionally, DigiCert is also looking at machine learning and AI-driven security analytics to detect and mitigate emerging threats in real-time. By staying ahead of the curve, DigiCert aims to provide state-of-the-art cybersecurity solutions, ensuring a resilient and secure digital environment for businesses and consumers across India.
