Source: ETtech
The growing number of online transactions means cybercriminals have been targeting consumers through fraud calls, messages and emails
Cybersecurity companies such as Innefu Labs, Lucideus and McAfee are looking to build solutions to combat the next big threats to consumers in an increasingly digital economy.
Many first-time users have taken to India’s growing digital economy following the launch of many initiatives by the Narendra Modi government to boost digital literacy in the past few years, but awareness about cyber security and infrastructure are still lacking, cyber security experts said.
Consumers embracing digital ways of doing business are facing threats including data theft and fraud calls, they pointed out.
About 47.5 billion e-transactions were recorded nation-wide in 2019 till November, according to a report by PwC and Data Security Council of India.
The growing number of online transactions means cybercriminals have been targeting consumers through fraud calls, messages and emails, said Tarun Wig, co-founder of cybersecurity firm Innefu Labs.
“We are looking to solve the consumer problems as that are definitely the need of the hour,” he said. “While the internet population is growing, cyber literacy, especially for first-time users, is the next thing that the industry will be looking at,” Wig added.
The cybersecurity market in India is expected to grow to $3.05 billion by 2022 from $1.97 billion last year, according to the report.
“…you have a few people who are tech-savvy, but millions of farmers…(and) vendors are now joining the digital economy (and) need to be educated about cybersecurity,” a McAfee spokesperson said.
The cybersecurity company is using blogs and social media to create awareness through videos based on augmented and virtual reality. It is also running a podcast that discusses the extreme lengths to which hackers go to steal personal information.
“Today, many organizations are being attacked through employees, as personal and working devices are interconnected. An employee is not just working from the office, but everywhere, through smartphones. Quantifying or scoring cyber risk will become critical then,” said Saket Modi, co-founder of cybersecurity firm Lucideus.
In the near term, businesses to consumers, enterprises and government will merge for integrated solutions, he added.
The cybersecurity industry will look at various aspects of security as advanced technologies become popular, experts said.
“Home automation and connected cars, for example, are already becoming popular among consumers. Hence, internet-of-things security will become another segment to look into in the coming years,” said Siddharth Vishwanath, partner-cyber advisory leader at PwC.
