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               A TRULY
               DIGITAL BUDGET

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A TRULY DIGITAL BUDGET - itVARnews
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A TRULY DIGITAL BUDGET - itVARnews
Content
      COVER STORY                                                                          6            Market Changes have Blurred Lines between
                                                                                                        Brand, Partner, and Customer

                                                                                                                                                 20

                              A Truly
                          Digital Budget

                                                                                                         Krithiwas Neelakantan,
                                                                                                         Channel & Alliances Head, Palo Alto Networks

                                                                                                        CHANNEL NEWS 24-29
                                                                                                        n
                                                                                                         Ransomware Continues to be Relentless,
                                                                                                          Destructive: Fortiguard Labs

                                         IN CONVERSATION
  India to become World’s 3rd Largest                 Coming out of the pandemic, 2021 was about
  Construction Market, 66% Prioritizing Digital       rebuilding, recovery, strengthening our product
  Transformation: Autodesk                            and value proposition                             n
                                                                                                         Salesforce Establishes Sustainability as Core
                                                                                                          Company Value; Launches Net Zero Cloud 2.0

                                              16

                                                                                                        n
                                                                                                         Google Chat to Replace Hangouts from
                                                                                                          March
                                                                                                        n
                                                                                                         Global AI Spending Expected to Reach $434

                                                                                            18
                                                                                                          Billion in 2022
                                                                                                        n
                                                                                                         Kaspersky Promotes Sandra Lee as Managing
                                                                                                          Director, APAC
      Alok Sharma,                                    Shayak Mazumder,                                  n
                                                                                                         India IT Industry to Adopt As-a-Service
      Director – Channels (India & SAARC), Autodesk   CEO, Co-Founder, Eunimart                           Delivery & Operating Models

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A TRULY DIGITAL BUDGET - itVARnews
COVER STORY

                                                  BUDGET
                                                  2022-23

          A Truly Digital Budget
              Under the cloud of the Omicron wave, finance minister
          NirmalaSitharaman presented the Budget for 2022-23, which
         has brought several initiatives and proposals to capitalize on the
       MSME and startup momentum. The Budget’s key aspects included
       a projected growth rate of 9.2 percent, the highest among all global
      countries, the creation of 60 lakh employment across 14 sectors, and
        great push towards digitization across the sectors. So, let’s look at
       how the Budget is poised to serve the MSME and Startup sectors?
                                     Amit Singh

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COVER STORY

T
       he recent Union Budget      times. She proposed several      of a truly digital India.       cannot emphasize enough
       2022 has magnified          initiatives, with technology     The adoption of emerging        on the importance of skilling
       the ‘Digital India’         as the pivot, to boost a         technologies like blockchain    to lead the digital disruption.
vision and importance of           wide swathe of sectors           and artificial intelligence     Initiatives to drive skilling,
technology in all focus areas      such as skilling, agriculture,   in the RBI-backed Digital       reskilling and up-skilling,
like infrastructure, inclusive     education, mental health,        Rupee, E-Passports,             digitally, will ensure we
development, sustainability,       logistics or bolstering small    Geospatial Systems, etc.        are ready for the digital
sunrise industries, and            and medium enterprises.          will be a game-changer          future much ahead of the
skilling. Indeed, technology       The fresh digital push           in terms of strengthening       curve,” secondsArundhati
firms and startups focused         and the reliance on green        the country’s economy,”         Bhattacharya, Chairperson
on new-age platforms will          energy and mobility are          shares Dharmender Kapoor,       and CEO, Salesforce India.
likely be at the vanguard of       seen as building blocks of       Chief Executive Officer and         The Union Budget
the list of beneficiaries as the   the government’s strategy        Managing Director, Birlasoft.   focuses on three pillars of
Budget seeks to democratize        to prepare the economy for           “As we continue to          inclusive welfare, digital
technology in a concerted          future challenges.               digitally transform, the        transformation and
push toward digitization.               “The Union Budget 2022      focus on bolstering digital     sustainability and leveraging
    In her Budget                  is technology-focused and        payments with a consumer-       private investments. All
speech, Finance Minister           will be a catalyst for growth.   friendly lens, will continue    aimed at pivoting the
NirmalaSitharaman used the         It is apparent from this         to augment digital adoption     country from the pandemic
word ‘digital’ 35 times while      Budget that we are on track      across regional India. As       towards ‘India @100.’
‘tech’ was mentioned 26            to achieve our objective         a knowledge economy, I          Aptly referred to by many
                                                                                                                     FEBRUARY 2022 7
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COVER STORY

      as the ‘Budget for Digital     industry believes that the
      India’, the announcements      government has recognized
      come as a welcome step         technology as the key to
      for the tech and start-up      India’s growth that will
      ecosystem in India. Given      pave way for a tech-enabled
      the government’s focus on      digital economy.
      technology across sectors,        “The Budget reiterates
      India’s IT sector welcomed     the government’s focus
      Union Budget 2022-23. The      on new-age technologies,

                                                                          As we continue to digitally
                                                                     transform, the focus on bolstering
                                                                     digital payments with a consumer-
                                                                     friendly lens, will continue to augment
                                                                     digital adoption across regional India.
                                                                     Arundhati Bhattacharya,
            The adoption of emerging                                 Chairperson and CEO, Salesforce India
       technologies like blockchain and
                                                                   infrastructure, and            the start-up ecosystem will
       artificial intelligence in the RBI-backed                   comprehensive development,     be the bedrock of innovation
       Digital Rupee, E-Passports, Geospatial                      which will help India          and growth drivers for
                                                                   maintain sustainable growth    the Indian economy,”
       Systems, etc. will be a game-changer                        momentum. The proposed         commentsJagdishMitra,
       in terms of strengthening the country’s                     initiatives around 5G, deep    Chief Strategy Officer
                                                                   tech, digital rupee, and       and Head-Growth, Tech
       economy.                                                    skilling will prove to be a    Mahindra.
                                                                   game-changer, thereby             As expected, thanks
       Dharmender Kapoor,                                          furthering the digital India   to digital tech’s incredible
       Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Birlasoft    dream. Incentives boosting     support in helping India
827         FEBRUARY 2022
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COVER STORY

Inc. brave the pandemic,      adoption of technology
this year’s Budget takes      across industries,” highlights
a ‘digital first’ stance. A   DayapatraNevatia, COO and
significant focus on new      President, Infogain.
initiatives and progressive        He further adds, “I believe
policy interventions, such    digital literacy will be the key
as opening defense R&D,       to realizing India’s 5 trillion-
promoting drone start-        dollar economy dream. To
ups, digital university,      create a digital ecosystem for
giving datacenters infra      skilling and focus on digital
status will propel further    inclusion through 5G and

                                                                         A significant focus on new
                                                                    initiatives and progressive policy
                                                                    interventions, such as opening defense
                                                                    R&D, promoting drone start-ups, digital
                                                                    university, giving datacenters infra
                                                                    status will propel further adoption of
                                                                    technology across industries.
       The Budget reiterates the                                    Dayapatra Nevatia,
  government’s focus on new-age                                     COO and President, Infogain
  technologies, infrastructure, and
  comprehensive development, which                               investment in technologies
                                                                 such as Artificial Intelligence
                                                                                                   talent in the country, thereby
                                                                                                   scaling the adoption of
  will help India maintain sustainable                           and infrastructure,               new-age technologies across
  growth momentum.                                               the government will
                                                                 continue strengthening
                                                                                                   industries.”
                                                                                                       “The announcement of
                                                                 the development of                data centers being awarded
  Jagdish Mitra,                                                 entrepreneurship,                 an infrastructure status is
  Chief Strategy Officer and Head-Growth, Tech Mahindra          productivity, and quality of IT   truly commendable as this
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A TRULY DIGITAL BUDGET - itVARnews
COVER STORY

      move will be a major thrust      global data center hub,”
      to data localization. The        says Paresh Shah, CEO, Allied
      new status will enable the       Digital.
      data center sector to get            Rajesh Maurya, Regional
      credit at competitive rates      Vice President, India and
      and on a long-term basis         SAARC, Fortinet underlines
      with enhanced limits. This       that the Government has
      move will also be a catalyst     made a strong economic
      in realizing India’s vision of   statement with its focus
      attaining the position of a      on public investments to

                                                                              Forward looking and catering to
                                                                         an aspirational Digital India the Budget
                                                                         lays its emphasis on technology with
                                                                         the launch of Digital Currency using
                                                                         blockchain, Digital University for
                                                                         education in different Indian languages,
            The announcement of data centers                             roll out of 5G and boost to Start-ups.
       being awarded an infrastructure status                            Rajesh Maurya,
       is truly commendable as this move will                            Regional Vice President, India and SAARC, Fortinet
       be a major thrust to data localization.
                                                                       spur growth. “Forward        Digital University for
       It will be a catalyst in realizing India’s                      looking and catering to an   education in different Indian
       vision of becoming a global data center                         aspirational Digital India   languages, roll out of 5G
       hub.                                                            the Budget once again lays
                                                                       its emphasis on technology
                                                                                                    and boost to Start-ups,” he
                                                                                                    explains.
                                                                       with the launch of Digital      Further, the government’s
       Paresh Shah,                                                    Currency using blockchain,   proposal of setting up 75
       CEO, Allied Digital
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COVER STORY

Digital Banking units in       rural empowerment. The
75 districts of the country    government’s continuous
and providing online fund      focus on the digital
transfer between post          payments ecosystem has
office accounts and bank       paved the way for digital
accounts will help in adding   adoption amongst the
further tailwinds to expand    unbanked and under-banked
necessary banking services     population of the country
to the last mile. “This        especially post the outbreak
enables us to take a step      of the pandemic,” details
further towards our goal of    DilipModi, Founder, Spice
financial inclusion through    Money.

                                                                      Budget offers a fantastic boost to
                                                                 the MSME segment, which will help
                                                                 this sector increase its contribution
                                                                 closer on 40 percent of India’s GDP.
                                                                 Rajarshi Bhattacharyya,
                                                                 Co-Founder, Chairman and MD, ProcessIT Global

                                                              Big Boost for MSMEs               the revival of MSMEs but
                                                                                                also giving the sector a
       The extension of the ECLGS                                 With India coming
                                                              out gradually from the            much-needed boost. As a
  scheme will be of immense help for                          reeling impact of Covid-19        sector that is responsible
                                                                                                for around 45 percent
  MSMEs as it will give the much-needed                       pandemic, the MSME sector
                                                                                                of the country’s total
                                                              welcomed the Union Budget
  impetus for new businesses to come                          wholeheartedly. In fact,          manufacturing output, 40
                                                                                                percent exports, and almost
  to the fore.                                                the worst-hit MSME sector
                                                                                                30 percent of the national
                                                              stands to benefit most from
                                                              the Budget announcements.         GDP, there’s no doubt the
  Joginder Rana,                                                  The Union Budget seems        MSME sector deserves to be
                                                                                                a top priority.
                                                              intent on not just prioritizing
  Vice Chairman and MD, CASHe
                                                                                                               FEBRUARY 2022 11
COVER STORY

          Over the next five years,   extended up to March 2023.
      the government intends          Additionally, the guaranteed
      to roll out Rs 6,000-crore-     cover amount will be
      worth program to rate           expanded by Rs 50,000 crore
      MSMEs. As part of this          right up to a total cover of
      rollout, the Emergency          Rs 5 lakh crore. Aside from
      Credit Line Guarantee           facilitating faster recovery
      Scheme, or ECLGS, will be       of the sector, these moves

                                                                            The capping of surcharge at
                                                                        15 percent on Long-Term Capital
                                                                        Gains (LTCG) tax for all listed and
                                                                        unlisted corporations responds to a
                                                                        long-standing demand for new-age
                                                                        businesses.
            The Indian tech startup space
       continues to witness steady growth,                              Kavitha Subramanian,
       accounting for 70 unicorns with most                             Co-Founder, Upstox
       of them in the IT/knowledge-based                             will be instrumental to        to come to the fore,”
                                                                     ensure MSMEs are provided      statesJoginder Rana, Vice
       sectors. The provisions outlined in this                      with the time and funding      Chairman and MD, CASHe.
       year’s Budget will provide them a game-                       they need to establish their       The Union Budget has
                                                                     ground.                        also taken into consideration
       changing economic transformation                                  “The extension of the      the need for an infusion of
       opportunity.                                                  ECLGS scheme will be of        funds into the sector. Credit
                                                                     immense help for MSMEs as      guarantee trust for MSMEs
       Suman Reddy,                                                  it will give the much-needed
                                                                     impetus for new businesses
                                                                                                    are set to see a revamp and
                                                                                                    will ensure the allocation
       Managing Director and Country Head, Pegasystems India
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12           FEBRUARY 2022
FEBRUARY 2022 13
COVER STORY

      of Rs 2 lakh crore more to    provide additional credit of   digital initiatives within      in today’s time. The Union
      the growth of the sector.     Rs 2 lakh crore.               the inter-department and        Budget has offered a
      This would also help MSME-        “We are looking at         encouraging a complete          booster to the start-ups in
      dedicated lenders to have     a fantastic boost to the       transformation in the           the form of an extension
      confidence to expand credit   MSME segment, which will       financial sector,” elaborates   of the tax incentives by
      to MSME sector basis the      help MSME increase its         Rajarshi Bhattacharyya, Co-     another year i.e. through
      credit guarantee of trust.    contribution closer on 40      Founder, Chairman and MD,       2023.
      On similar lines, revamping   percent of India’s GDP. Most   ProcessIT Global.                    “Extending the tax
      of the Credit Guarantee       importantly, the government        Further, Raising and        holiday for another year
      Trust for Micro and Small     is actually spending a         Accelerating MSME               till March 2023 will help
      Enterprises (CGTMSE) will     lot of money in terms of       Performance (RAMP), an          businesses endure the
                                                                   initiative to resuscitate the   economic slowdown
                                                                   MSME sector and help it         inflicted by the Covid-19
                                                                   recover from the impact         outbreak. This will also
                                                                   of the pandemic has also        mean more significant
                                                                   been announced as part          activity in the investment
                                                                   of the Union Budget.            landscape, enabling robust
                                                                   In continuation of their        early-stage venture funding
                                                                   attempts to help the MSME       possible for start-ups,”
                                                                   sector revive and come up       shares delighted Rana of
                                                                   to speed, the government        CASHe.
                                                                   has decided to extend                “The Indian tech
                                                                   custom duty exemption on        startup space continues
                                                                   the import of steel scrap by    to witness steady growth,
                                                                   a year.                         accounting for 70 unicorns
                                                                       These announcements         with most of them in
                                                                   within the Union Budget         the IT/knowledge-based
                                                                   are very much in tandem         sectors. The provisions
                                                                   with the government’s           outlined in this year’s
                                                                   Atmanirbhar Bharat              Budget will provide
                                                                   imperative and will help        them a game-changing
                                                                   the sector recover from the     economic transformation
                                                                   blow it has been dealt by       opportunity,” highlights
                                                                   the pandemic. The Rs 6,000      Suman Reddy, Managing
                                                                   crore allocation goes out       Director and Country Head,
                                                                   to show massive support         Pegasystems India.
          Finance Minister’s announcement on                       for the sector and will help         The focus on start-ups
                                                                   support future programs for     and Fintech in this year’s
      the allotment of funds through NABARD to                     the acceleration of MSME        Budget is a fantastic step
                                                                   performance.                    that will help this segment
      finance start-ups for agriculture and rural                                                  grow further, says Kavitha
      enterprises is a great move towards the                      Multi-Faceted Support           Subramanian, Co-Founder,
                                                                                                   Upstox. She further adds,
      development of the agriculture sector as                     for Startups                    “The introduction of 5G and
                                                                      The government has
      well as for supporting nanopreneurs.                         time and again recognized
                                                                                                   the spread of optical fiber
                                                                                                   to villages would provide
                                                                   and acknowledged that
      Dilip Modi,                                                  the start-ups are drivers for
                                                                                                   a boost to the Fintech
                                                                                                   industry. It encourages
      Founder, Spice Money                                         growth and the economy

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14          FEBRUARY 2022
COVER STORY

digital investment platforms    plans to launch delivery of
like ours to expand their       hi-tech services for farmers
services, resulting in an       including the use of Kisan
increase in retail activity     Drones is a great move
in Tier 2-Tier 3 cities and     towards the development
towns. The Central Bank         of the agriculture sector
Digital Money (CBDC)            as well as for supporting
will help to enhance the        nanopreneurs,” says Modi
digital economy by making       of Spice Money.
currency management more            Interestingly, it has also
efficient and less expensive.   been proposed that R&D for
The capping of surcharge        the defense sector will also
at 15 percent on Long-Term      be opened up for industry,
Capital Gains (LTCG) tax        start-ups and academia with
for all listed and unlisted     25 percent of the defense
corporations responds to a      R&D Budget earmarked for
long-standing demand for        this.
new-age businesses.”                Further, the Government
    In addition, the finance    recognizes that the growth
minister proposed to            of the start-up ecosystem
boost the start-ups for         is dependent upon the
agriculture and rural           venture capital and private             Among the many incentives
enterprise which are            equity investments, with
relevant for farm produce       approximately Rs 5.5 lakh          proposed in the Budget is the reduction
value chain. For such start-    crore being invested last          of voluntary exit, where the government
ups, a fund with blended        year. In view to scale up
capital (raised under the       the investments, it has            has allowed the closure of a private
co-investment model) is         been proposed that an              limited company in 6 months of non-
proposed to be facilitated      expert committee will be
through the National            set up in order to examine         functioning.
Bank for Agriculture and        the regulatory challenges
Rural Development (which        being faced by the investor        Amit Singal,
has invested in AIFs that       community, and to suggest          General Partner, Fluid Ventures
contribute to the capital of    appropriate steps to
the enterprises working for     overcome such challenges.
the benefit of agriculture          “Startups have got a
                                                                 but encourage them to              Bottomline
                                                                 experiment. Earlier they had           Overall, this Budget is
and rural development).         boost in this year’s Union
                                                                 to run the company for 18          forward-thinking and well-
Further, it is proposed         Budget. Among the many
                                                                 months, even after closure,        balanced. The emphasis on
to promote start-ups to         incentives proposed in the
                                                                 to avail of the benefit of the     growth, digitization, and
facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’       Budget is the reduction of
                                                                 Fast Exit facility. In addition,   technology outlines the
through varied applications     voluntary exit, where the
                                                                 the surcharge on Long Term         government’s commitment
and for Drone-As-A-Service.     government has allowed the
                                                                 Capital Gain (LTCG) has            to cohesive development
    “Finance Minister’s         closure of a private limited
                                                                 been capped to 15 percent,         and long-term growth.
announcement on the             company in 6 months of
                                                                 which is again a good move         Hence, Budget 2022
allotment of funds through      non-functioning. This will
                                                                 to bring more HNIs into            will play a crucial role in
NABARD to finance start-        not only help accelerate and
                                                                 startup Angel investment,”         bolstering India’s growth
ups for agriculture and rural   provide relief to startups
                                                                 says Amit Singal, General          story.
enterprises along with the      wanting to shut a business
                                                                 Partner, Fluid Ventures.
                                                                                                                    FEBRUARY 2022 15
IN CONVERSATION

          India to become World’s 3rd Largest
         Construction Market, 66% Prioritizing
            Digital Transformation: Autodesk
            Alok Sharma, Director – Channels (India & SAARC), Autodesk, in
            a conversation with itVARnews, shares his thoughts on growth,
        achievements and new business model of Autodesk,amidst the ongoing
                                      pandemic
                                                                                                  and generative design
                                                                                                  platform vendor
                                                                                                  Spacemaker.
                                                                                                      Upchain: The
                                                                                                  addition of Upchain to
                                                                                                  the Autodesk portfolio
                                                                                                  accelerates our mission
                                                                                                  to deliver the next-
                                                                                                  generation software
                                                                                                  platform for design
                                                                                                  and manufacturing and
                                                                                                  creates more value for
                                                                                                  customers by removing
                                                                                                  collaboration barriers
                                                                                                  and increasing efficiency
                                                                                                  and resiliency.
                                                                                                      Innovyze: Our
                                                                                                  acquisition of Innovyze
                                                                                                  positions Autodesk
                                                                   Alok Sharma,                   as a leading global
                                                                                                  provider of end-to-end
                                                                   Director – Channels            digital solutions from
                                                                   (India & SAARC),               design to operations
                                                                   Autodesk                       of water infrastructure,
                                                                                                  accelerates Autodesk’s
                                                                                                  digital twin strategy,
                                                                                                  and creates a clearer
                                                                                                  path to a more
                                                                                                  sustainable and
                                                                                                  digitized water industry.
                                                                                                      Spacemaker:
                                                                                                  The acquisition of
                                                                                                  Spacemaker provides
       Please talk about        to embrace and prioritize            As part of our overall
                                                                                                  Autodesk with a
                                 digital transformation to         business strategy, over the
      the highlights of your     drive growth, efficiency, and     past two years Autodesk        powerful platform to
      achievements in terms      sustainability, generating        has acquired cloud-based       drive modern, user-
      of business growth,        strong demand for Autodesk’s      product lifecycle management   centric automation and
      customer acquisitions      platform. This is demonstrated    and product management         accelerate outcome-
      and new innovations in     in the financial results of the   solutions provider Upchain;    based design capabilities
                                                                                                  for architects, urban
      2021.                      first three quarters of the       water infrastructure design
                                                                                                  designers and planners.
        Our customers continue   current fiscal year.              company Innovyze and AI

 27
16         FEBRUARY 2022
IN CONVERSATION

 Please talk                     pandemic, what are              leveraging these. But now         machines replacing humans.
                                                                  with changing scenario, over      This is the arrival of
about few major                   the changes you see in          85 percent of our ecosystem       augmented intelligence, in
developments in your              the relations between           has a digital presence. We        which cognitive computing
business processes/               brands, channels, and           have seen some focused            capabilities help humans
model which enabled               customers?                      digital campaigns come from       make better decisions,
improvement in                        The pandemic has            some of our India partners        faster. European sporting
business in 2021.                 demonstrated that we need       during the pandemic. Two          goods retailer Decathlon, for
    We’ve built a robust and      to be flexible, agile, and      great examples of this            example, is now using AI to
resilient subscription business   be able to adapt quickly        include: One partner focusing     design and manufacture its
which has provided flexibility    as things unfold. The most      on solution selling with a        performance bicycles more
and have now focused on           important thing has been        customer focus, utilizing their   efficiently, making them
our Cloud offerings, therefore    to stay connected with          customer’s story to build         lighter, more durable, and
enabling work-from-home           our channel eco system          out a campaign, as well as        faster while slashing design-
with ease. This has allowed       and retain those strong         another partner who created       phase emissions.
our customers to not be           relationships we were able to   an industry competition that           In construction, India
impacted by us working            build prior to the pandemic.    created social awareness and      is expected to become
remotely.                         Leveraging technologies         created enormous impact in        the world’s 3rd largest
    Completely unique to          during this period, moving      the market.                       construction market, with
Autodesk, we are building                                                                           construction output to grow
a platform to enable data                                                                           on average by 7.1 percent
to flow. We will extend our                                                                         each year. There is more
cloud services to connect                We’ve built a robust and resilient                         government spending with
                                                                                                    multiple projects such as
data experiences across
solutions, igniting a new
                                     subscription business which has                                PMAY, Bharatmala, Bharat-net
developer ecosystem. As this         provided flexibility and have now                              Project, Jal Jeevan Mission
ecosystem grows, the data                                                                           and Affordable Housing
in the platform will become          focused on our Cloud offerings,                                Projectin various sectors
                                                                                                    including airports, urban and
more valuable, driving more
insights and users, more
                                     therefore enabling work-from-home                              rural infrastructure, railways,
usage, and workflows which           with ease. This has allowed our                                power and renewable energy,
in turn will drive more apps                                                                        irrigation, water treatment
and extensions – what we call        customers to not be impacted by us                             plants and waterways.
                                                                                                         With 66 percent of
a flywheel of growth.
    Undeniably, now more
                                     working remotely.                                              construction companies
than ever, our largest                                                                              in India prioritizing digital
opportunity to create                                                                               transformation, the
positive impact at scale                                                                            construction sector has seen
is by supporting our              to cloud offerings enabling      What is your                    an increased acceptance
customers in automating           a smooth remote working         outlook for the                   of digital construction
                                  transition, as well as the                                        solutions. Research has
complex processes with
                                  benefits of a common
                                                                  technology industry               found that 20 percent of
the technology they need                                          over the next 2-3
to unlock insights, make          data environment are all                                          construction firms in the
better decisions, and achieve     things that have driven new     years?                            country have implemented
                                  relationships.                      Government initiatives,       BIM in large residential,
superior outcomes to improve
                                      Assisting our partners in   such as Atmanirbhar               commercial and industrial
the impact of everything
                                  the move to predominately       Bharat, will harness the          projects.As the Internet of
they design, make, own, and
                                  a digital focus and how to      power of connected data           Things (IoT), AI and cloud-
operate. Cloud solutions and
                                  better reach their customers    and artificial intelligence       computing technologies
connected data environments
                                  has also been vital, from       (AI) to help companies            drive the industry’s digital
fuel innovation—across
                                  a marketing and sales           automate their engineering        transformation, digital
technology, processes, supply
                                  perspective. Prior to the       and manufacturing                 twins are gaining traction.
chains, and industries. And
                                  pandemic, our partners          processes, driving push-          According to McKinsey in
this opportunity is growing
                                  didn’t see the value of         button automation. The            2016, large projects are, on
exponentially.
                                  digital and social platforms,   rapid adoption of digital         average, up to 80 percent
                                  with less than 10 percent       technologies has generated        over budget.
 With the ongoing                                                a lot of speculation about
                                                                                                                     FEBRUARY 2022 17
IN CONVERSATION

         Coming out of the pandemic, 2021 was
       about rebuilding, recovery, strengthening
          our product and value proposition
         Speaking about his views and outlook around technology trends and
        business challenges, Shayak Mazumder, CEO, Co-Founder, Eunimart
        elaborates on artificial intelligence, augmented reality, live streaming,
      omnichannel sales, and chatbots that will be dominating e-commerce in the
                                    coming 2-3 years.
                                                                Please talk about
                                                               the highlights of your
                                                               achievements in terms
                                                               of business growth,
                                                               customer acquisitions,
                                                               and new innovations in
                                                               2021.
                                                                   2021 has been a
                                                               monumental year for us
                                                               as we unlocked a few
                                                               milestones. First, we
                                                               raised a Pre-series A round
                                                               funding from LetsVenture,
                                                               9Unicorns, Loyal VC,
                                                               and Supply Chain Labs.
                                                               We successfully met the
                                                               commitments of 3M$
                                                               funding in the past year.
                                                                   Second, we set up an
                                                               office in The United States
                                                               of America and onboarded
                                                               Mr. Levi Reed as our
                                                               Co-Founder along with
                                                               several industry leaders as
                                                               our mentors. We further
                                                               launched in Saudi Arabia
                                                               and UAE with success in
                                                               acquiring customers in
                                                               these countries.
                                                                   Third, Eunimart was
                                                               also a part of TechStars
                                                               Los Angeles, one of the
                                                               country’s leading and
                                                               thriving tech incubators
                                                               with programs that focus
      Shayak Mazumder, CEO, Co-Founder, Eunimart               on innovations that make

 27
18        FEBRUARY 2022
IN CONVERSATION

the world better. We were      We have improved our AI          is testament enough            smartphones for online
also a part of The Alchemist   imaging tools. We will be        that most companies            shopping. The number
Incubator Program, one         launching and improving          will use a large chunk of      of smartphone users
of the most renowned           on the first of its kind AI      their resources towards        for online shopping has
accelerators for startups      for cataloging module            digitization. This will        crossed more than half of
that monetize from             that will be able to create      further result in an           the world population. The
enterprises. Lastly, we were   automated catalog creation       increased rush in the SMEs     desktop still is the primary
also able to turn around       for multiple geographies         to turn to digital ways        method for customers
the recovery of 15M$.          and channels of sales            of conducting business         for their e-commerce
                               Improved our revenue GMV         activities. This massive       shopping. However, it
 Please talk                  and are on track for Series      technology uptake will         won’t last long, as global
about a few major              A raise in the last quarter of   further create more likely     trends in the e-commerce
developments in your           this year.                       situations for the SMEs to     sector disclose that mobile
business processes/                                             adopt digital methods or       devices will be the primary
                                                                                               technology utilized to find
model which enabled
                                                                                               out, conduct research, and
improvement in                                                                                 buy goods/services. Virtual
business in 2021.                     We have designed, developed,                             assistants are another thing
    Coming out of the
pandemic, 2021 was                and launched an exciting new                                 of today. Today’s average
                                                                                               smart gadgets user knows
about rebuilding, recovery,       warehousing and shipping solution for                        or uses from the many
strengthening our product
and value proposition. We         SMEs and enterprise customers; that                          known virtual assistants
                                                                                               like Google Voice Search,
have had several releases         makes cross-country warehousing                              Amazon Alexa, Cortana,
that have enhanced                                                                             Viv, Google Home, and
product offerings. We             accessible to brands of all sizes. Data                      Siri. Over the next few
have increased the                science and AI will be our key focus                         years, virtual assistants
number of marketplaces                                                                         or voice commands will
(Sales channels), logistics       areas in 2022.                                               shape up to become a
partnerships, and strategic                                                                    usual norm and form to
partnerships. We opened                                                                        be a significant factor in
up new marketplace                                              even completely switch         the tech innovations for
partnerships globally –         What are the
                                                                to technology-oriented         eCommerce. Metaverse,
Shoppee in the Philippines     top trends that will             models.                        artificial intelligence,
and India, Daraaz in Nepal     shape the technology                                            augmented reality, live
and India, and Amazon          industry in 2022?                 What is your                 streaming, omnichannel
Saudi Arabia. We are in the        In an increasingly
final stages of partnering     connected world,
                                                                outlook for the                sales, and chatbots are
                                                                technology industry            some of the top trends
with shipping and              technology has the                                              expected to dominate
warehousing partnerships       potential to revolutionize       over the next 2-3
                                                                                               e-commerce in the
in the US, UK, and EU          and re-invent how we             years?
                                                                                               coming 2-3 years. A larger
– to provide FBA-like          do business. As we look              Smartphones are not
                                                                                               percentage of businesses
fulfillment services. We       forward and prepare for          just the future but also the
                                                                                               walking parallel with
have designed, developed,      a post-pandemic future,          present of the Ecommerce
                                                                                               technology will also give a
and launched an exciting       we’re optimistic that            world. As smartphone
                                                                                               huge rise to omnichannel
new warehousing and            the latest tech trends           use and internet
                                                                                               implementation. With
shipping solution for SMEs     can help address some            penetration increase
                                                                                               more businesses adopting
and enterprise customers;      of our most pressing             with each passing day,
                                                                                               the digital methods,
that makes cross-country       business challenges and          the role of smartphones
                                                                                               they will also begin
warehousing accessible to      build a more equitable,          in e-commerce traffic
                                                                                               to see the impressive
brands of all sizes. Data      resilient society. In 2022,      is getting crucial, as
                                                                                               results that omnichannel
science and AI will be our     Ecommerce will jump              customers in a large
                                                                                               implementation can bring.
key focus areas in 2022.       from 11% to 52%, which           number are using

                                                                                                              FEBRUARY 2022 19
IN CONVERSATION

              Market Changes have Blurred Lines
            between Brand, Partner, and Customer
         Krithiwas Neelakantan, Channel & Alliances Head, Palo Alto Networks,
       spoke to Amit Singh on the company’s recent achievements, cybersecurity
        trends and how market trends and dynamics are changing the chemistry
                     between brands, partners and the customers

                                                             Please talk about you
                                                            recent achievements.
                                                                2021 has been a solid
                                                            year for our business. As
                                                            enterprises, globally, focused
                                                            on digital transformation and
                                                            rapid cloud adoption, our
                                                            business adapted to deliver
                                                            prevention-based, end-to-end
                                                            security via a single integrated
                                                            platform. In tandem with
                                                            this, we worked to ensure
                                                            continuous innovation across
                                                            network, cloud, and devices.
                                                            Our total revenue for the
                                                            fiscal fourth quarter 2021
                                                            grew 28 percentYoY to $1.2
                                                            billion, compared with total
                                                            revenue of $950.4 million for
                                                            the fiscal fourth quarter 2020.
                                                            Our Strata, Prisma and Cortex
                                                            platforms saw consistent and
                                                            sizable customer transactions
                                                            worldwide.
                                                                We also joined the Nasdaq-
                                                            100 Index, home to the top
                                                            100 largest domestic and
                                                            international non-financial
                                                            companies with a substantial
                                                            market capitalization. This
                                                            inclusion affirmed our
                                                            position as the preferred
                                                            cybersecurity partner for
                                                            organizations globally. These
                                                            outcomes can be attributed
                                                            to our product innovation,
                                                            platform integration, business
                                                            model transformation and
      Krithiwas Neelakantan,                                investments in our go-to
      Channel & Alliances Head, Palo Alto Networks          market organization.
 27
20          FEBRUARY 2022
IN CONVERSATION

    On the partner front,        of Palo Alto Networks           Cloud 3.0, the industry’s       reams of digital data that
we launched the current          ongoing commitment to           first integrated platform       now double up in existing
iteration of our partner         deliver the most complete       to shift security left —        physical spaces. This hyper-
program, NextWave 3.0,           set of security services        improving organizations’        connectedness will further
with a focus on providing        locally for India and for our   entire cloud security           blur the lines between our
incentives and value             regional customers. These       posture by reducing             online and offline worlds
for our partners. With           services will enable our        security risk at runtime. 3.0   and in turn could create
NextWave 3.0, we added           customers to balance data       offers cloud code security      far-reaching consequences
specialization benefit plans     privacy with the ability to     to embed protections            on our security in the real-
that gave our partners           detect emerging threats,        in the development              world.
graded benefits based on         providing a seamless,           process. In line with the           Moreover, IoT
the resources invested,          streamlined security            evolving business reality       technologies will emerge as
business growth, and             solution operated and           of hybrid workforce, we         a critical business enabler.
competencies acquired. The       delivered within India.         also introduced PRISMA          In fact, according to a
program is tuned to market                                       SASE, an integrated             recent global IoT study
needs and helps partners                                                                         we undertook with global
address a customer’s                                                                             IT decision-makers, 84
evolving cybersecurity                                                                           percent of respondents
frameworks. Our partners                 On the partner front, we launched                       in India have reported an
are now well-positioned to
leverage our investments
                                    the current iteration of our partner                         increase in non-business
                                                                                                 devices connecting to
in building pipelines,              program, NextWave 3.0, with a focus                          corporate networks
acquiring new customers,                                                                         by remote workers. A
and delivering the portfolio.
                                    on providing incentives and value for                        whopping majority (97
                                    our partners.                                                percent) believed that their
    When it comes to India,                                                                      organization’s approach
the country continues to                                                                         to IoT, therefore, needs
drive our success story                                                                          a complete overhaul.
globally. With over 2,500         Please talk                   cloud-delivered service         Smart light bulbs, diabetes
customers in India and           about a few major               with industry-leading           monitors, heart rate
acquiring an average of          developments in your            network security and next-      monitors, kettles, game
100 net new customers            business processes/             generation SD-WAN to            consoles, and even pet
every quarter, the country                                       ensure that organizations       feeders balance the list of
                                 model which enabled
remains a priority market                                        stay secure and productive      strangest devices identified
for us, both in terms of
                                 improvement in                  while working fluidly           on such networks.
innovation and business          business in 2021.               between branch offices and          As we move into 2022,
opportunities and as such            Recognizing that            home offices.                   we expect this trend to
we continue to invest            the move to cloud will                                          continue. Organizations
                                 dominate in the coming
in the market. Earlier
                                 years, we focused on
                                                                  What are the                  will therefore look to draw
this year, we unveiled
                                 growing and innovating
                                                                 top trends that will            up a strategic approach
our new multi cloud                                              shape the technology            that will provide complete
location that will enable        rapidly by delivering a                                         visibility into the security
                                 comprehensive, native,          industry in 2022?
India-based and other                                                The pandemic has            infrastructure. A Zero Trust
regional organizations to        and fully integrated                                            architecture combined
                                 platform with best-             brought about decades of
benefit from direct, high-                                       technology advancements         with Artificial Intelligence
performance access to            of-breed capabilities,                                          (AI) capabilities can enable
                                 alongside cloud-native          and digital transformations
our integrated platform                                          within a span of two            enterprises to profile,
solutions while allowing         offerings to our customers.                                     correlate and contextualize
                                 Following our acquisition       years. Remote and hybrid
storage of their logs                                            workspaces have made            and apply threat prevention
within Indian borders. The       of developer-first cloud                                        tools to each connected
                                 security company                our interactions with
availability of the regionally                                   smart, intuitive devices        device, thus eliminating
hosted services is a part        Bridgecrew, in November                                         implicit trust and validating
                                 2021 we announced Prisma        all pervasive, generating

                                                                                                                 FEBRUARY 2022 21
IN CONVERSATION
      every stage of digital          across categories. This is       involved.                     partners work with vendors
      interaction.                    applicable to the channel                                      to prioritize on a platform
          As cybersecurity            sphere as well where              The current                 approach that delivers
      challenges evolve, we will      adaptability has become          pandemic has changed          end-to-end security across
      also see a cultural mindset     a key business enabler.          the expectations and          the entire expanse of a
      shift that will help build a    Partners are broadening          purchasing behavior           digital ecosystem - which
      certain shared responsibility   their horizons and are                                         will be crucial for efficiently
                                                                       of customers, which is
      between employees and           servicing customers with                                       securing hybrid and remote
      employers to stay secure.       varied products instead of
                                                                       forcing many channel          workers around the world.
      Businesses will work            one specialized offering.        firms to reconsider
      towards educating their         In essence, they have            their business model.          What is your
      workforces on evolving          moved up from being              According to you, what        outlook for the
      threats and bad actors          value-added resellers            can channels do to            technology industry
      while enterprises will look     to full-fledged business         reinvent themselves?          over the next 2-3
      at integrated platform          consultants that provide             In a threat landscape
                                                                       where attack vectors
                                                                                                     years?
      capabilities to monitor         security for the long-
                                                                                                         Cybersecurity is fast
      threats and access to           term. On the customer            are multiplying daily, it
                                                                                                     becoming a boardroom
      networks. Additionally,         front, demands are on an         is essential for channel
                                                                                                     issue for organizations
      enterprises will also           uptick and not exclusive         partners to pinpoint
                                                                                                     across industries, pushing
      have to look at creating        to security. Adopters are        areas where they can add
                                                                                                     executives to look at it
      levels of segmentation to       looking to secure their          real value for customers.
                                                                                                     not as a cost but as an
      safeguard employees and
                                                                                                     investment. Additionally,
      the organization’s most
                                                                                                     considering how attack
      valuable assets.                         We are also seeing great potential                    surfaces have expanded
          We will also see
                                                                                                     in the hybrid work
      an accelerated pace                in the technology and business                              era, this mindset of
      of automation across
      enterprises, along with
                                         opportunities in Secure access                              being proactive about
                                                                                                     cybersecurity is gradually
      the emergence of tech-             service edge (SASE), Cloud, and                             taking form within the
      first companies that
      are security-conscious,            Machine Learning (ML)/Artificial                            general consumer as well.
                                                                                                     Therefore, we at Palo
      revitalizing the                   Intelligence (AI).                                          Alto Networks believe
      cybersecurity space in India.
                                                                                                     that in the coming years,
      We are also seeing great
                                                                                                     it will be crucial for
      potential in the technology
                                                                                                     both organizations and
      and business opportunities      systems and networks,            In addition, building
                                                                                                     individuals to remain
      in Secure access service        and maintain respectable         a diverse and current
                                                                                                     cognizant of emerging
      edge (SASE), Cloud, and         levels of convenience and        portfolio of offerings
                                                                                                     trends.
      Machine Learning (ML)/          automation to deal with a        instead of working with
      Artificial Intelligence (AI).   digitally transformed world.     a handful of specialized
                                                                                                        Here are the 5 key
                                         These market changes          products can provide a
                                                                                                     trends we see emerging
       With the ongoing              have blurred the lines           competitive edge. But the
                                                                                                     from a cybersecurity
      pandemic, what are              between brand, partner,          buck cannot stop at just
                                                                                                     standpoint over the next
      the changes you see in          and customer, giving rise        delivering these products;
                                                                                                     few years:
      the relations between           to stronger partnerships         partners must look at
                                      across the board. The            integrating them within
      brands, channels, and                                            their own operations. This
                                                                                                        The meteoric rise
                                      shared responsibility notion
      customers?                      of cybersecurity has now         can aid in the maturing
                                                                                                     of bitcoin will create a
          The pandemic has                                                                           well-funded adversary:
                                      gained more popularity           of their infrastructures,
      forced enterprises to relook                                                                   Cryptocurrency will fuel
                                      and has opened new lines         scaling new markets,
      at their operations on a                                                                       the rise and evolution of
                                      of communication between         and delivering optimal
      global scale which has                                                                         the ransomware industry,
                                      vendor and end-user,             customer experiences. It is
      pushed brands to innovate                                                                      with larger attacks on
                                      greatly benefiting all parties   also important that channel
      and deliver new offerings                                                                      important infrastructure,
 27
22          FEBRUARY 2022
IN CONVERSATION
while calls for its regulation       Attackers will set their   have switched their focus      differentiator for financial
gain traction. Because of        eyes on countries’ critical    from targeting corporate       institutions. With the rise
its decentralized character,     digital infrastructure:        offices to attacking           of open-banking and hyper
it will be difficult for         Cyberattacks on essential      individuals. To contend        growth of Fintech, poor
regulators to track down         infrastructure, with           with this new reality,         programming or security
the perpetrators. As a           confidential and lucrative     enterprises will have          misconfigurations at
result, businesses must          data, worldwide, are on        to evolve beyond their         the application interface
concentrate on enhancing         the rise. These attacks        corporate networks, deploy     levels (API) could provide
their cybersecurity posture      have revealed that the         remote work solutions          cybercriminals with
and determining their            implementation of              and bring unified security     greater opportunities to
level of preparedness            cybersecurity protocols is     policy management              carry out identity theft,
for an attack, as well           significantly slower than      to remote employees.           fraud, and unauthorized
as conducting tabletop           the rate of digitalization     This will take form in         data collection. Public-
exercises to identify any        across countries. With         the deployment of new          private participation
security weaknesses              hackers aiming to dent         integrated solutions like      through awareness and
that must be fixed.              the critical infrastructure,   Secure Access Service Edge     educational programs
Collaboration between            there is a need to fast-       (SASE). Combining security,    would be central to every
cybersecurity providers,         track improved global          networking, and digital        security strategy. Special
cloud providers, and             policies and regulatory        experience management,         focus would have to be
telecommunications               collaboration. Governments     SASE solutions will            given to groups like the
providers will help disrupt      and businesses must            be critical in bringing        elderly, who may be more
successful attacks and                                                                         susceptible to fraud as new
impose real costs on                                                                           users of digital banking
attackers.                                                                                     platforms. Simultaneously,
                                         Cryptocurrency will fuel the rise                     enterprises will need
    As physical and                                                                            to adopt DevSecOps,
digital lines blur, who
                                   and evolution of the ransomware                             which will ensure their
or what we trust will              industry, with larger attacks on                            infrastructure is tested for
impact our security                                                                            security problems before it
even more: Increased               important infrastructure, while calls for                   goes public, allowing their
interactions with smart,           its regulation gain traction.                               IT teams to plan for any
intuitive devices with                                                                         security issues that might
sensory triggers will create                                                                   appear after deployment.
reams of digital data that                                                                     In addition, organizations
will double up in existing                                                                     should implement API
physical spaces. Given this      encourage the creation of      about both security and        security to their inventory
hyper-connectedness of           safeguards against complex     operational efficiency.        and assess the security
networks, organizations          threats, particularly          We can also expect a lot       of external-facing APIs.
need to draw up a strategic      those that target critical     more harmonization, or         Monitoring and addressing
approach that will provide       infrastructure through         application rationalization,   any anomalous activities
complete visibility into the     supply chain gaps. Time-       around the all-remote-         within API interactions is
security infrastructure. A       strapped security teams will   access technologies that       also vital.
Zero Trust architecture          benefit from technologies      people use, such as VPNs,          Mitigating
combined with Artificial         like behavioral analytics      which can be complex to        tomorrow’s threats
Intelligence (AI) capabilities   and SOAR.                      work out.                      will require a greater
can enable enterprises                                                                         leadership commitment,
to profile, correlate and           A borderless                   The API economy             collaboration, and
contextualize and apply          workforce will need            will usher in a new era        effective communication
threat prevention tools to       borderless solutions:          of digital fraud and           to drive a mindset shift
each connected device,           With remote work gaining       exploits: In an emerging       to view cybersecurity as
thus eliminating implicit        long-term acceptance           web 3.0 scenario,              a team sport between
trust and validating every       and homes evolving into        digital experience and         governments, enterprises,
stage of digital interaction.    workplaces, cybercriminals     banking will be a primary      and individuals.

                                                                                                              FEBRUARY 2022 23
CHANNEL NEWS

                           Ransomware Continues to be Relentless,
                                Destructive: Fortiguard Labs
               F
                     ortinet, a broad,          showing an evolution to a        of December, exploitation            systems, often in the form of
                     integrated, and            more advanced persistent         activity escalated quickly           executable and linkable format
                     automated cybersecurity    cybercrime strategy that         enough, in less than a month,        (ELF) binaries. Linux runs the
               solution provider, has           is more destructive and          to make it the most prevalent        back-end systems of many
               announced the latest             unpredictable. To protect        IPS detection of the entire          networks and container-based
               semiannual FortiGuard Labs       against this broad scope of      second half of 2021. In              solutions for IoT devices and
               Global Threat Landscape          threats, organizations need      addition, Log4j had nearly           mission-critical applications,
               Report. Threat intelligence      to implement AI-powered          50x the activity volume in           and it is becoming a more
               from the second half of          prevention, detection, and       comparison to the well-known         popular target for attackers.
               2021 reveals an increase in      response strategies based        outbreak, ProxyLogon, that           In fact, the rate of new Linux
               the automation and speed         on a cybersecurity mesh          happened earlier in 2021. The        malware signatures in Q4
               of attacks demonstrating         architecture allowing for        reality is that organizations        quadrupled that of Q1 2021
               more advanced persistent         much tighter integration,        have very little time to react or    with ELF variant Muhstik,
               cybercrime strategies that       increased automation, as well    patch today given the speeds         RedXOR malware, and even
               are more destructive and         as a more rapid, coordinated,    that cyber adversaries are           Log4j being examples of
               unpredictable. In addition,      and effective response to        employing to maximize fresh          threats targeting Linux. The
               the expanding attack surface     threats across the extended      opportunities. Organizations         prevalence of ELF and other
               of hybrid workers and hybrid     network.”                        need AI and ML-powered               Linux malware detections
               IT is a focal point that cyber                                    intrusion prevention systems         doubled during 2021. This
               adversaries are attempting to        For a detailed view of       (IPS), aggressive patch              growth in variants and
               exploit.                         the report, as well as some      management strategies, and           volume suggests that Linux
                    Michael Joseph, Director    important takeaways, read        the threat intelligence visibility   malware is increasingly
               System Engineering, India        the blog. Highlights of the 2H   to prioritize those threats          part of adversaries’ arsenal.
               & SAARC, Fortinet, said,         2021 report follow:              propagating most quickly in          Linux needs to be secured,
               “Cybersecurity is a fast-            Log4j Demonstrates           the wild to reduce overall risk.     monitored and managed
               moving and dynamic               Dramatic Speed of Exploit            Adversaries Rapidly              as any other endpoint in
               industry, but recent threat      Organizations Face:              Targeting New Vectors                the network with advanced
               events show unparalleled         The Log4j vulnerabilities        Across the Attack Surface:           and automated endpoint
               speeds at which cyber            that occurred in late 2021       Some lesser or low-lying             protection, detection and
               adversaries are developing       demonstrate the rapidly          threats have the potential           response. In addition, security
               and executing attacks today.     increasing speed of exploit      to cause bigger problems in          hygiene should be prioritized
               New and evolving attack          that cybercriminals are          the future and are worthy            to provide active threat
               techniques span the entire       attempting to leverage to        of watching. An example              protection for systems that
               kill chain but especially in     their advantage. Despite         is newly crafted malware             may be affected by low-lying
               the weaponization phase,         emerging in the second week      designed to exploit Linux            threats.

      27
     24               FEBRUARY 2022
CHANNEL NEWS

    Botnet Trends Show                                             subsided from peak levels           the year. The result was a
a More Sophisticated                                               over the last year and              list of the individual tactics,
Evolution of Attack                                                instead, the sophistication,        techniques and procedures
Methods: Threat trends                                             aggressiveness, and impact          (TTPs) the malware would
demonstrate that botnets are                                       of ransomware is increasing.        have accomplished if the
evolving to adopt newer and                                        Threat actors continue to           attack payloads had been
more evolved cybercriminal                                         attack organizations with           executed. This high-resolution
attack techniques. Instead of                                      a variety of new as well as         intelligence shows that
being primarily monolithic                                         previously seen ransomware          stopping an adversary earlier
and focused mostly on                                              strains, often leaving a trail of   is more critical than ever,
DDoS attacks, botnets are                                          destruction. Old ransomware         and that by focusing on a
now multipurpose attack                                            is being actively updated and       handful of those identified
vehicles leveraging a variety                                      enhanced, sometimes with            techniques, in some situations
of more sophisticated                                              wiper malware included, while       an organization could
attack techniques, including      Michael Joseph,                  other ransomware is evolving        effectively shut down a
ransomware. For example,          Director System Engineering,     to adopt Ransomware-as-             malware’s methods for attack.
threat actors, including                                           as-Service (RaaS) business          For example, the top three
                                  India & SAARC, Fortinet
operators of botnets like                                          models. RaaS enables more           techniques for the ‘execution’
Mirai, integrated exploits for    vary across global regions,      threat actors to leverage           phase account for 82 percent
the Log4j vulnerability into      but can be largely grouped       and distribute the malware          of the activity. The top two
their attack kits. Also, botnet   into leveraging three broad      without having to create            techniques for obtaining a
activity was tracked associated   distribution mechanisms:         the ransomware themselves.          foothold in the ‘persistence’
with a new variant of the         Microsoft Office executables     FortiGuard Labs observed a          phase represent nearly 95
RedXOR malware, which             (MSExcel/, MSOffice/), PDF       consistent level of malicious       percent of the observed
targets Linux systems for         files, and browser scripts       activity involving multiple         functionality. Leveraging this
data exfiltration. Detections     (HTML/, JS/). Such techniques    ransomware strains, including       analysis can have a dramatic
of botnets delivering a           continue to be a popular way     new versions of Phobos,             effect in how organizations
variant of RedLine Stealer        for cybercriminals to exploit    Yanluowang and BlackMatter.         prioritize their security
malware also surged in early      people’s desire for the latest   The operators of BlackMatter        strategies to maximize their
October morphing to find          news about the pandemic,         professed they would not            defense.
new targets using a COVID-        politics, sports, or other       attack target organizations
themed file. To protect           headlines, and to then find      in the healthcare sector and             Protecting Against Fast-
networks and applications,        entryways back to corporate      other critical infrastructure       moving and Sophisticated
organizations must implement      networks. With hybrid work       sectors but did so anyway.          Cyber Adversaries
zero trust access solutions       and learning remaining           Ransomware attacks remain                As attacks continue to
to provide least access           a reality, there are fewer       a reality for all organizations     develop in sophistication
privileges especially to secure   layers of protection between     regardless of industry or size.     and span the entire attack
IoT endpoints and devices         malware and would-be             Organizations need to take          surface at increased speeds,
entering the network as           victims. Organizations must      a proactive approach with           organizations need solutions
well as automated detection       take a “work-from-anywhere”      real-time visibility, analysis,     designed to interoperate
and response capabilities to      approach to their security by    protection and remediation          rather than function in
monitor anomalous behavior.       deploying solutions capable      coupled with zero trust access      isolation. Securing against
    Malware Trends Show           of following, enabling, and      solutions, segmentation, and        evolving attack techniques
Cybercriminals Maximizing         protecting users no matter       regular backing up of data.         will require smarter solutions
“Remote Everything:”              where they are located.              Deeper Understanding            that know how to ingest
Evaluating the prevalence         They need advanced security      of Attack Techniques Can            real-time threat intelligence,
of malware variants by region     on the endpoint (EDR)            Help Stop Criminals Faster:         detect threat patterns and
reveals a sustained interest      combined with zero trust         Analyzing the attack goals of       fingerprints, correlate massive
by cyber adversaries in           access solutions, including      adversaries is important to be      amounts of data to detect
maximizing the remote work        ZTNA. Secure SD-WAN is also      able to better align defenses       anomalies, and automatically
and learning attack vector. In    critical to ensure secure WAN    against the speed of changing       initiate a coordinated
particular, various forms of      connectivity for the extended    attack techniques. To observe       response. Point products
browser-based malware were        network.                         the malicious outcomes of           need to be replaced with a
prevalent. This often takes            Ransomware Activity         various attacks, FortiGuard         cybersecurity mesh platform
the form of phishing lures        Still High and Continues         Labs analyzed the functionality     that provides centralized
or scripts that inject code or    to Get More Destructive:         of detected malware by              management, automation
redirect users to malicious       FortiGuard Labs data reveals     detonating the malware              and integrated solutions that
sites. Specific detections        that ransomware has not          samples collected throughout        work in concert.

                                                                                                                        FEBRUARY 2022 25
CHANNEL NEWS

                     Salesforce Establishes Sustainability as Core
                     Company Value; Launches Net Zero Cloud 2.0
               S                                   Salesforce
                      alesforce has announced                                         accelerate towards a collective    accountability, organizations’
                      sustainability as a                                             net zero goal. And just last       carbon data will need to be
                      core company value,
                                                   further integrates                 week, Salesforce announced         as trusted as their financial
               joining its values of trust,        sustainability                     that it is tying executive pay     data. Organizations will also
               customer success, innovation,       throughout company                 to environmental, social,          need to know how to reduce
               and equality. And, to help              At Salesforce, values drive    and governance (ESG)               emissions in a credible and
               organizations accelerate            the company’s decision-            performance, including two         meaningful way.
               their own journeys to net           making. Every employee and         sustainability metrics.                Net Zero Cloud 2.0 has
               zero emissions, Salesforce is       team knows Salesforce’s                                               been completely rebuilt
               also making Net Zero Cloud          values and strives to live by      Mandatory climate                  to offer trusted reporting,
               2.0 — a solution that tracks        them every day.                                                       deeper insights, and supplier
               greenhouse gas emissions —              With sustainability as
                                                                                      reporting is coming                management so that
                                                                                          Regulatory change may
               available globally.                 a core value, Salesforce is                                           organizations can go net
                                                                                      soon require organizations to
                    Suzanne DiBianca,              leveraging its full power                                             zero now. With Net Zero
                                                                                      report on ESG matters, and
               Chief Impact Officer, EVP           to drive climate action                                               Cloud 2.0, organizations can
                                                                                      many countries are already
               of Corporate Relations,             and further operationalize                                            get sustainability insights
                                                                                      disclosing their climate-
               Salesforce, said, “I’m              sustainability across its                                             with powerful Tableau CRM
                                                                                      related financial risks and
               extremely proud that we             entire business. This means                                           dashboards to achieve their
                                                                                      opportunities.
               will now officially count           every internal organization                                           climate goals and take action
                                                                                          Legislatures and regulatory
               sustainability as a core value,     incorporates sustainability into                                      with:
                                                                                      agencies in the United States
               making it part of everyone’s        its V2MOM — a Salesforce                                              • C arbon Footprint Forecast:
                                                                                      are also considering disclosure
               job at Salesforce. When we          alignment process that drives                                            Organizations can find the
                                                                                      rules. A bill that would require
               add a value we operationalize       the company’s success.                                                   fastest path to net zero
                                                                                      companies to disclose all
               it in every area of the business.       Salesforce has net zero                                              with ‘what-if’ analysis
                                                                                      greenhouse gas emissions is
               In this climate emergency,          emissions and has been                                                   to visualize progress and
                                                                                      moving through the California
               we need every organization          voluntarily reporting on its                                             alignment to their climate
                                                                                      legislature; and the U.S. SEC
               to get to net zero as fast as       greenhouse gas emissions                                                 action commitments.
                                                                                      has solicited public input on
               possible. Now that Salesforce       since fiscal year 2012. Since                                         • S cience-Based Targets:
                                                                                      voluntary climate change
               has reached net zero                that time, the company has                                               Setting goals in line with
                                                                                      disclosures.
               emissions, we want to use our       continued to increase the                                                science-based targets and
               technology and best practices       scope of its climate action                                              measuring progress.
               to help organizations reach         strategy by actively engaging      The next generation of             • S upplier Management:
               their climate goals, too.”          policymakers, peers, partners,     Net Zero Cloud                        Track scope 3 emissions
                                                   suppliers, and customers to           In this new era of climate         across the entire value

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       26             FEBRUARY 2022
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