Microsoft and PwC join hands to equip SMBs against cyber crime

India's SMB landscape contributes significantly to India's GDP and hence growth. But SMBs are at a greater risk of being targeted by cyber criminals. It becomes important for them to understand the need and importance of security management and be better prepared for security threats to which they are exposed to. It is also evidenced in a 2014-2018 IDC forecast which underlines that 71% of security breaches targeted small businesses.

Bringing security to the fore with an aiming to further awareness, Microsoft India and PwC India have for the first time joined hands and are conducting a series of joint activities that include webinars. Together, they are spreading awareness about the various security related issues which irk SMBs and rob them of money as well as business. Since most of the SMBs do not invest in security, this joint effort is aimed at disseminating the word about the need of having a robust security solution in place.

Sivarama Krishnan, Leader - Cyber Security Services at PwC India tried to convince the Indian SMBs in one of the webinars recently. In his presentation, Krishnan guided the businesses regarding the regulatory challenges and advised them to align themselves to the regulatory requirements necessary for their line of business and invest in security solutions. "In a highly connected world of today, robust cyber security is a must to ensure service continuity, financial fraud prevention, critical data protection and regulatory compliance. It becomes even more important for small and medium businesses as they are potentially easy targets due to not being equipped with advanced technologies and lower employees' awareness to prevent and resolve attacks on real-time,” said Krishnan.

Discarding various myths surrounding the security solutions, Krishnan further informed the audience how SMBs can avail various options to safeguard their digital assets. “As SMBs focus should remain on core business and growth, it is prudent for them to refer their security worries to a proven set-up of scalable resource and information pool. And it can easily be made cost effective by attractive pay-per-use or monthly subscription models with options to withdraw and add on as per business growth,” he further added. The presentation emphasized on digitally enabling SMBs and demystified the ever-changing cyber security domain.

One of the suggestions was that independent third parties with enough scale and technology know-how can handle the security needs of SMBs. In this way, they need not invest in buying licenses and maintenance. “SMBs are at a greater risk of being targeted by cyber attacks as they don’t have the same security system and infrastructure as their larger counterparts. Microsoft can help guide SMBs through their digital transformation—from helping them understand their current security posture to developing cybersecurity strategies that support their business goals, and implementing comprehensive solutions across three functional core areas: Protect, Detect and Respond,” said Sudhir Nayar – Director SMB, Microsoft India.

Through the webinar, PwC also highlighted the need for aligning the businesses with regulatory frameworks. Overlooking the regulations often paves way for cyber criminals to easily exploit vulnerabilities.