Indian firms see growing value of data

Half of Indian IT leaders see a permanent increase in value of data as organisations accelerate digital transformation in 2020, a Druva-commissioned study has found.

This comes as more Indian enterprises recognise the importance of data as they continue to navigate the global pandemic which has emboldened threat actors to carry out more cyber attacks.

According to the 2020 Value of data study, which polled more than 300 IT decision makers in India, 44% of organisations do not have the data they collect readily available when needed for decision-making.

Nearly a third also reported an increase in ransomware attacks on their organisations since the pandemic began, and nine in 10 are now more concerned with protecting their data from ransomware than before the pandemic.

Besides ransomware, the respondents also reported an increase in video conferencing attacks (42%), malware (40%), phishing (35%), user error or accidental tampering or deletion (32%) as well as insider threats (31%)

Amid mounting cyber threats, business continuity remains elusive, with 67% reporting that the time to recover data was still an issue and increased since the pandemic which had accelerated their transformation plans. One in four also reported that their company could only go three to four hours without access to data before causing serious harm to their business

“The pandemic, and possibilities of an emergence in the coming months, has forced organisations across India to re-evaluate the health of their data, potential security vulnerabilities, and their level of preparedness”, said Milind Borate, co-founder and chief development officer of Druva. “The ability to unlock the value of data, rapidly adapt to changing demands, and delight customers will increasingly be determined by their cloud strategy. Cloud data protection plays a pivotal role in this journey.”

In its quarterly forecast of the global cyber security market, Canalys noted that cyber security will remain a high priority this year, as the range of threats broadens and new vulnerabilities emerge, while the frequency of attacks is unlikely to subside.

“The biggest threats are always those not yet known. The discovery of the Sunburst advanced persistent threat campaign at the end of 2020, stemming from malicious code injected into the widely used SolarWinds Orion IT management platform and subsequent infiltration into other systems, highlights this,” said Canalys chief analyst Matthew Ball.

“Cyber security professional services engagements in response to this latest issue will be one of many factors contributing to sustained investment this year, especially in newer solutions to mitigate emerging threats. Growth in add-on subscriptions providing new features, products to secure the cloud and delivered from the cloud, and upgrades to existing solutions will be key drivers for expansion.

“The need for organisations to adopt multi-layered and holistic approaches, combining employee awareness training, data protection and backup, threat and vulnerability detection, and response will remain critical.”

According to Canalys, the market for data security will increase 6.6%, focusing on protection, backup and recovery as well as consistent policies across multi-cloud and hybrid IT environments.