Smartphone allows SMEs to grow: Goel

Top Stories

»	Sensex, Nifty open nearly flat as geopolitical tensions continue
»	Sensex, Nifty gain in early trade as India carries out ‘Operation Sindoor’
»	India, UK finalised free trade deal, says PM Modi
»	Moody’s pegs India’s GDP growth at 6.3 per cent for 2025
»	Nifty, Sensex open higher; Adani Ports among top gainers

Saurabh Gupta | 24 May, 2011
Smartphones allow small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to grow by staying close to their systems and subsequently to their customers, says Ajay Goel, Managing Director, India & SAARC, Symantec, in an exclusive interview to SME Times.

Excerpts of the interview...

Demand of Smartphones is constantly increasing in India. And it seems that Smartphones are becoming an essential tool for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Please comment.
Ajay Goel: As India continues to move towards a mobile workforce, the smart phone is becoming an essential tool. Today, smartphones have eliminated the need to have multiple devices such as a projector, computer and a phone for conducting normal business and personal transactions. Now, we can bank, shop and work with our phones, accessing information and money on the go. This is enabled by the variety of applications that can be downloaded from the burgeoning app store market in India. Also, with 3G and other key enhancements to mobile applications, there are more avenues and options to a business owner to conduct business and engage with customer across multiple platforms.

The latest study by AMI Partners reveals that 54% of Indian medium businesses (MBs, companies with 100-999 employees) are currently using smartphone devices and as smartphone usage rises, this spending is set to grow to USD 173million in 2011. Smartphones mean SMEs can be much more efficient with their time, which is a precious commodity due to their lack of resources.

How can Smartphones help SMEs in developing and managing their business? How do you see the future of Smartphones in India?
Ajay Goel: Today, mobile devices have blurred the boundaries between personal and business use. A smartphone allows small businesses to grow by staying close to their systems and consequently to their customers. Smartphones bring the ability to manage work and transactions in real time, as employees carry the mobile web around with them.

Small Businesses are motivated by the ease, decreasing costs and the exceptional increase in power of smartphones. These devices care capable of running many of the applications that once needed a decently powered laptops. Businesses can now log on, make payments, send through an invoice, do their word-processing and catch up on emails while on the move. This is one of the key advantages of small businesses, namely their ability to respond quickly to business events. Having close communication within the team means the business can meet the needs of the customer quickly and solve their problem.

The recent study by AMI partners reveals that the installed base of smartphones is less than one million with the maximum penetration of these devices in the professional services vertical. With many more companies recognizing the advantages of using social networking, podcasting and micro-blogging the adoption of the smart phone is on the rise throughout India.

As mobile devices continue to become more critical to business in the coming years, we anticipate a sharp increase in destructive software developed specifically for these devices. Hackers are already taking note of this opportunity to exploit a new market: the number of reported vulnerabilities for mobile devices rose by 42 percent in 2010 as revealed by Symantec’s Internet Security threat Report XVI.

How safe are these phones in terms of Internet Security? Please brief our readers about your '2011 Internet Security Threat Report'. How will it impact small business and Symantec's recommendations for information protection?
Ajay Goel: The Symantec Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR) is one of the most comprehensive sources of Internet threat data in the world. It provides a year-long overview and analysis of worldwide Internet threat activity. The latest report (volume 16)reveals significant changes to the threat landscape in 2010, including an increase in volume and sophistication of threat activity; continued growth of social networking sites as an attack distribution platform; and a change in attackers’ infection tactics. In addition, the report explores how attackers are exhibiting a notable shift in focus toward mobile devices.

With installed base of smart phones and mobile devices growing at an exponential rate, it has provided the perfect environment for cybercriminals to exploit this medium for profit.

While the new security architectures employed in today’s mobile devices are at least as effective as their desktop and server predecessors, attackers can often bypass these protections by attacking inherent vulnerabilities in the mobile platforms’ implementations.

The Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR) XVI notes that Symantec detected more than 286 million new threats last year and this number grows every year. The ISTR underscores the need for small businesses to evaluate their current security policy. It provides critical security and threat landscape information needed to help small businesses to effectively secure their systems now and in the future. Some of the best practices that small businesses should follow to protect their business are:

•        Develop Internet security guidelines and educate employees about Internet safety, security and the latest threats

•        Ensure all software is up-to-date with vendor patches

•        Use website reputation and IP black listing solutions

•        Deploy malware and intrusion prevention to detect and prevent vulnerabilities and malicious code

Please highlight the key Internet security trends in social networks, mobile threat landscape, and attack toolkits. What are attack toolkits and how are they threat to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)?
Ajay Goel: ISTR XVI reveals significant changes to the threat landscape in 2010. The volume and sophistication of threat activity increased substantially, with Symantec identifying more than 286 million new threats last year.

·         Social networks continue to be a target for cybercriminals, who are leveraging the popularity of shortened URLs. Attackers can capitalize on these services because their potential victims are unable to quickly determine where the URL will send them, potentially leading to a phishing scam or malware infection.

·         As more users download and install third-party applications for mobile devices, the possibility of installing malicious applications is also increasing. Most malicious code now is designed to generate revenue, there are likely to be more threats created for mobiledevices as people increasingly use them for sensitive transactions such as online shopping and banking.

·         Attack toolkits are increasingly targeting Java vulnerabilities. Attack toolkits are software programs that can be used by novices and experts alike to facilitate the launch of widespread cyber-attacks on networked computers. These kits enable the attacker to easily launch numerous pre-written threats against computer systems. They are typically used to enable the theft of sensitive information and provide the ability to customize threats in order to evade detection, as well as automating the attack process.Symantec observed that 61 per cent of all attacks Symantec observed in the reporting period are attributable to toolkits. Just as the internet knows no boundaries, cybercrime is a global phenomenon too. Attack toolkits make it easy for specialists in one type of malicious code in any part of the world to sell their software to criminals in any other part of the world.

SMBs are soft targets for cybercriminals. Limited awareness, time, money and lack of dedicated IT staff have made an SMB more prone to attacks and that too just by anybody who has a simple attack toolkit.

As per Symantec report on Attack Toolkits and Malicious Websites, the relative simplicity and effectiveness of attack kits has contributed to their increased use in cybercrime— these kits are now being used in the majority of malicious Internet attacks. For example, one major kit called Zeus poses a serious threat to small businesses. The main objective of Zeus is to steal bank account credentials; unfortunately, small businesses have fewer safeguards in place to guard their financial transactions, making them a prime target for Zeus.

The Internet Security Threat Report XVI reports that these tool kits are now adding exploits for Java, a computer language that runs on almost all operating systems and inside every web browser.

There is an issue of infrastructure i.e. connectivity of phone network. Indian SMEs are majorly located in semi-urban or at the border of big cities where availability of mobile network is a big issue. What is your opinion on this? In this situation, I think, the reach and uses of these Smartphones become very limited. Your take on this?
Ajay Goel: Indian telecom industry has seen an uprising in the recent times and is predicted to go a long way in the future. It is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. TRAI has reported that the India has 846.32 million telephone subscribers at the end of March 2011. With growth in broadband infrastructure and internet penetration, mobile devices will be a major influence in SMBs technology decision. Also, with the advent of 3G spectrum there will be an increase in the quality of coverage that phone companies can provide and in turn smartphone penetration levels is expected to increase.