Kasperky is now the fastest growing endpoint security business. Ever since the office in Mumbai was set up in 2010, Kaspersky has been looking at consolidating their presence in the subcontinent.
Prior to that, distributors and channel partners were selling Kaspersky Lab products and solutions. The head of the Russian antivirus specialist’s South Asia operations Altaf Halde, Managing Director at Kaspersky Lab South Asia talks to Channeltimes about the company’s strategy and emerging trends in security and mobile.
Excerpts from the interview.
CT: Share some of the key milestones Kaspersky has achieved in Indian market for last one year?
Halde: 2014 has been a year of consolidation and moderate growth for us.
In B2B, we expanded our footprint in the large enterprise space even as we consolidated our presence in the SMB space. Our dedicated and focused partner strategy has started to pay off, and we believe, we will reap bigger dividends as we plan to roll out our new partner program for B2B. We had a change in our B2C distribution structure but we believe we are poised for a 25-30% growth in 2015 in B2C as our current distributor is well entrenched in tier 2 and tier 3 markets in addition to tier 1 markets.
CT: What do you think the next big thing will be for enterprise security?
Halde: In 2015, we expect to see another stage in the evolution of cyber-criminal activity with the adoption of APT tactics and techniques in financially motivated online criminal activity.
During a recent investigation, we discovered an attack in which an accountant’s computer was compromised and used to initiate a large transfer with a financial institution. It represented the emergence of an interesting trend: targeted attacks directly against banks.
We are seeing an upsurge in malware incidents where banks are being breached using methods coming directly from the APT playbook. Once the attackers got into the banks’ networks, they siphon enough information to allow them to steal money directly from the bank in several ways:
– Remotely commanding ATMs to dispose cash
– Performing SWIFT transfers from various customers’ accounts
– Manipulating online banking systems to perform transfers in the background
As security research teams continue to push for exposure of nation-state APT crews, we expect to see a shift in 2015 where the bigger, noisy APT groups splinter into smaller units, operating independently of each other. This in turn will result in a more widespread attack base, meaning more companies will be hit, as the smaller groups diversify their attacks.
Attacks against cash machines (ATM) seemed to explode this year with several public incidents and a rush by law enforcement authorities globally to respond to this crisis. A corollary of this publicity is an awareness that ATMs are ripe for the taking and cybercriminals are sure to notice. As most of these systems are running Windows XP and also suffer from frail physical security, they are incredibly vulnerable by default and, as the impersonal gatekeepers of the financial institutions’ cash, cybercriminals are bound to come knocking here first.
In 2015, we expect to see further evolution of these ATM attacks with the use of APT techniques to gain access to the “brain” of cash machines. The next stage will see attackers compromising the networks of banks and using that level of access to manipulate ATM machines in real time
In addition to the above, we predict attacks against virtual payment systems, ticketing machines, and objects associated with Internet of Things
CT: What are the focus areas for Kaspersky in India in 2015?
Halde: For B2B, our focus would be to work closely with our partners, offering a wide range of benefits: training and enablement, lead generation support, marketing support and rewards to ensure mutual growth and give them a competitive edge. We will ensure our partners have access to resources needed to develop expertise, grow business, increase customer satisfaction, and maximize profitability. For B2C, we would like to establish connect with the last mile reseller to motivate them to increase their business performance and achieve better growth.
CT: Kaspersky has recently made changes into its distribution for retail solutions, how the change in strategy is paying off?
Halde: Our experience with VR Infotech as National Distributor for all Kaspersky retail products in India has been positive as we have seen a significant increase in activations. VR Infotech has a strong channel network that is spread across the country, and with their expertise in channel business, VR Infotech is closely working with Kaspersky Lab to strengthen the market share of Kaspersky Lab in the consumer segment.
CT: What is the company’s strategy to promote its business in the Indian enterprise segment? Do you have a specific strategy for Indian SMBs?
Halde:Kaspersky remained in the Leaders Quadrant in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms, 4 years in row. We have consistently rated for Best Protection by AV-Test, 4 years in row. And we have consistently performed in the TOP3 (attached image for reference). Security solutions from several vendors were tested on how effectively they detect new and unknown malware, protect against phishing and financial threats, and how the solutions affect device performance(see table).
We have classified 3 categories of businesses: Very Small Business (VSB), Small and Medium Business (SMB) and Enterprise and each of these have a different GTM strategy.
CT: With the new government’s digital initiatives, how confident is Kaspersky about growing in the Indian market?
Halde: We were among the fastest growing endpoint security companies in India in 2012-13. Our growth has been slow in 2014 but we are targeting to grow by nearly 30% in 2015.
CT:How much India contributes to your global revenues at this point in time? Where would India stand in the Asia Pacific or the emerging market basket for you?
Halde: We are among the top growth markets for Kaspersky Lab in APAC
CT: What are your plans for the Indian market?
Halde: We would like to keep growing at a healthy pace and continue to increase our market share with our long-term strategy of growing and nurturing our partners. As a R&D focused organization, we would like to continue investing heavily in technologies and expertise to sharpen our collective threat intelligence
CT: How important is mobile security solutions, what has been the in-roads have you made?
Halde: People fail to realize that mobile devices access the same websites – and threats – as personal computers. Today, most users understand the need for security software on their personal computer, but often fail to see tablets and smartphones as “pocket-sized” computers that require the same protection from malware and cybercriminals.
As more people use smartphones and tablets to access their bank accounts and purchase goods online, cybercriminals now see mobile malware as an easy way to strike unprotected devices and make fast money. Our product Kaspersky Internet Security for Android (Lite version) is one of the highest downloaded mobile security from Google Play. But the paid conversion is quite less.
We believe it’s only a matter of time before people start taking smartphone security seriously, particularly those using Android as 99% of all mobile threats are targeted to Android devices. According to a recent study by Kaspersky Lab, India was found to be the world’s second most vulnerable country in terms of mobile malware.
We are constantly trying to educate partners and customers on the importance of securing Android devices since there is a heavy proliferation of Android in India.
CT: As the AV market is stagnant due to proliferation of tablets and smartphones, how are you growing in this space?
Halde: In today’s environment, most customers are using multiple devices especially mobile devices for browsing, interacting and shopping online. Mobile devices and tablets have become the primary browsing tool for millions. These devices require full-fledged protection equal to the security installed on traditional computers.
Looking at the current market scenario, it’s important to have a unified security software product, which would be compatible both on PCs as well as mobile devices, i.e., multi-device. We launched Kaspersky Multi-Device Internet Security as there are more than 3 devices in any average household in India today and we are seeing a steady growth in activations.