Alok Tripathi, the founder, and CEO of SeckureIT works Pvt. Ltd. (SeckureIT), an Indian cybersecurity certification company founded in 2019, that has achieved greater heights through sheer dedication and commitment towards cybersecurity education for students who wish to build a sustainable career in cybersecurity. In an interview with The Global Hues, he shared his journey of building a successful organization that not only provides valuable services to its clients but also promotes cybersecurity education & awareness.

“Define the Difference: a perfect blend of cybersecurity Certification, Services, and Solutions for all your information security needs.”

EDUCATE, ENABLE, EMPLOY: ABOUT THE SECKUREIT MODEL

SeckureIT works is progressive to become India’s 1st Cyber Security Hybrid Certification company committed to providing world-class, economical & professional certification for students which can benefit them in building a sustainable career in cybersecurity. Alok explained that the Educate, Enable, and Employ Model is built on the principles of better adaptation of subject learning, professional experience through industry exposure, and providing career placements to certified professionals. SeckureIT also offers specialized services such as Advisory services, IoT security design, and implementation, Blue-Tie Bounty, Social Engineering, and more, that provide a top edge to their clients to enhance the overall cybersecurity posture.

CHALLENGES FACED BY ORGANIZATIONS

The success and achievements of a company are always highlighted but a lot goes into the journey of building it. Talking about challenges, Alok mentioned that one of the biggest challenges faced by most organizations is hiring the right talents in the domain of cybersecurity. There are millions of job openings available for cybersecurity professionals but still, there are not enough candidates to fulfill the needs. On the contrary, obtaining Cybersecurity learning/education has always been a challenge as there are not many cybersecurity experts available to train the students.

CLEARING UP MISCONCEPTIONS REGARDING ETHICAL HACKING

There are several misconceptions that people around the globe hold towards ethical hacking or cybersecurity. On clearing out these misconceptions, the founder and CEO stated that the first misconception could be that most people, startups & MSME companies think that generally hacking or cyber-attacks are targeted towards big/corporate level organizations and individuals do not have much to do with it & hence they do not need to worry about acquiring ethical hacking or cybersecurity knowledge or services. secondly, he added, it is assumed that the deployment of tools and software is adequate to take care of security requirements and can counter any sort of cybersecurity attack.

NEED FOR ETHICAL HACKERS POST COVID-19

Talking about the surge in the demand for ethical hackers after the Covid-19 crisis, Alok believes that the requirement for cybersecurity professionals or ethical hackers has always been there but during the COVID-19 crisis, where the dependency on technology has significantly increased, especially today when most of the people are encouraged to work from home, puts a lot of pressure on companies in terms of ensuring that the entire operations happen securely. With the increased adaptation of technologies such as video conferencing platforms, cloud infrastructure, VPNs or remote desktop solutions, etc, it is mandatory for the organization to configure security which requires a higher number of skilled cybersecurity professionals, and it will keep on increasing.

MOST COMPELLING CASES SOLVED

In a conversation about the most compelling cases, Alok mentioned that it is more appropriate to talk about the root cause of the problem in general than discussing a specific case. Throughout his entire experience of more than 2 decades, the most troublesome cases, as per him, arise either due to insecure implementation of technology, inappropriate security reviews, or lack of cybersecurity awareness within the organization. Identification, analysis, and mitigation of threats are equally important as proactive threat hunting but some of the organizations focus majorly on incident response more than proactive threat detection and vice-a-versa.

ROLE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial intelligence, robotics, IoT devices are already common in our day-to-day lives. Be it Google Home, Alexa, and other smart devices they play a very important & personal role in our lives. At the same time, these smart devices have access to our personal & sensitive information which can help in creating a complete profile of an individual or organization, hence such device needs to be securely developed and carefully used. The company believes that the evolution of technology is rapid and so is the adaptation of it.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are technologies that can contribute a lot to prevent cyber-attacks by providing global intelligence, proactive Threat identification, evaluation, and protection. SeckureIT understands the significance of AI/ML and that is one of the reasons for being the first company to have its certification program in artificial intelligence & IoT security.

IMPACT OF CYBERATTACKS ON VICTIMS

Alok explained that cyberattacks can compromise personal & sensitive information which can put anyone at greater risks as the data can be used for various unlawful activities. He stated that in today’s times’ cybercriminals have become smarter and organized, hence the current cybercrime situation is extremely complex and disastrous for people to protect themselves against.

Targeted attacks such as Identity theft or social engineering attacks, sometimes cause a financial, social, or psychological breakdown of the victim, it may happen with an individual or an organization as a whole. He believes that it is important to make people aware and that is why their company has created an awareness platform where the subscriber or a user can learn the basics of cybersecurity by just paying ₹1 per day. People can gain awareness & knowledge about cybersecurity, cybercrime, and protect their data, information & privacy from any sort of cyber-attacks.

HIS ADVICE TO PEOPLE

Safety is the priority. Alok believes that technology evolves daily so as technological challenges and threats. If we do not keep ourselves aware and updated about cybersecurity incidents and their whereabouts, it is going to be difficult for us to ensure our digital safety. Hence, it is important to know the risks associated with technology when we adapt or use it. He states that cybersecurity awareness is the key to protect and counter against cyber-attacks. To support this, they have built a platform called Cyber Defense Brigade (CdeB) Club for people to invest some time to learn about tips & tricks, do’s & don’ts of using any device, app or platform securely.

ETHOS FOLLOWED BY THE COMPANY

The company has its motto “Educate, Enable, Employ” and we are committed to each word of it.

“We want everything to have security built-in by default while maintaining its simplicity. People always give precedence to convenience over security and that’s where in-security begins. In our organization, be it any department or vertical, security is the key. The same is applicable with our clients and partners because, for us, the clients and partners are part of our association, and securing them from all possible threats is our primary responsibility.”

HIS DEFINITION OF SUCCESS

“Success is never a destination but a journey. It is not about achieving something materialistic, rather Success is always about making a valuable difference in the lives of many. Thus, it has to be a continuous process to keep adding values to more and more lives and that’s what our Education & Services are meant for”.

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