The Changing Threat Landscape

The threat landscape has evolved, and India's banking institutions must grow their information security strategies, says Anand Naik of Symantec, which just released a report that offers a new security agenda to institutions.Symantec's findings break down into three categories, Naik says:

• Compliance and governance, which are clearly driving many of today's strategy decisions;
• The changing threat landscape, including malware directed to steal banking credentials;
• The endpoint explosion of new online and mobile channels, which open new security risks.

Phishing, banking trojans and botnets are the top threats to Indian banks, Naik says, and he does see some positive response from institutions. "A lot of institutions today have awareness about the challenges these threats bring, and therefore they are trying to put in place robust information security measures," he says. The challenge for many institutions, though: Legacy systems and processes that need to evolve to meet the changing threat landscape.

In an exclusive interview, Naik discusses:

• Highlights of Symantec's new report on information security in financial services;
• Today's biggest threats to Indian institutions;
• Key emerging technologies that can assist institutions in tackling these threats.

Naik spearheads Symantec's sales for West of India and Technology Sales for India & SAARC. He is responsible for planning and execution of pre-sales, technical consulting and architecture support for enterprises and consumers in the SAARC Region. He is also responsible for building technical capacity and enablement for Symantec partner community.

Having spent over 17 years in the IT industry, Anand has been with Symantec for over five years now. He has been associated with sales, consulting and pre-sales roles, with an in depth understanding and active participation in strategic planning and execution with customers. Anand brings experience and expertise in transforming customer's business challenges into IT solutions that can help achieve immediate and long term success for IT deployments. He is also responsible for providing technical thought leadership for strategic sales opportunities.