Artificial Intelligence
Consulting
Development ServicesIT Committee of the European Business Association (EBA) has recently initiated an open IT security discussion with Sean D. Manchanda, a famous business analyst and VP of a global management consulting firm called Avasant. During the discussion Manchanda said Ukraine had a huge potential of becoming one of the leading countries on cybersecurity solutions market.
Intersog presents some of the most interesting and thought-provoking quotes pertaining to Ukraine's cybersecurity and IT potential in general.
Sean Manchanda, Globalization Catalyst. Image source: EBA
Commenting on today's cybersecurity threats and use of cloud data centers, Sean Manchanda noted that the future was in the Cloud and data centers would soon pass into oblivion.
"Data center remains a popular technology for regulatory organs. But now the situation is changing and businesses are leaning towards secure Cloud technologies. When it comes to private sector, many companies refuse to set up own data centers and choose to engage more in data center outsourcing and cloudsourcing. Hybrid Cloud technologies are picking up steam, too. Now when Big Data dictates rules in the market, it's critical for digital solutions to be highly secure and well protected. For instance, a mobile health app that collects patients' data should even exceed a standard level of cybersecurity.
In public sector, there're some shifts, too. More state authorities will be moving to the Cloud in 3 - 4 years. I don't think this tendency is harmful or dangerous: most of the state authorities are very conservative, and they just need more success stories from peers to open the door for Cloud. If an organization like City Bank moved to the Cloud, users would have more trust in the security of such systems."
Another emerging trend Machanda pointed to was co-sourcing, i.e., when one data center covers several different entities. For instance, a data center in Las Vegas covers 12 state organs, including FBI, CSI, and few banks. In addition, it's hosting eBay assets worth $1.1 billion.
"And this is the best solution as you get very strong protection against cybercrime thanks to Tier 3 an Tier 4 data centers that can host both public and private sector clients. And this is the most obvious trend of the future."
Speaking about cybersecurity, Sean mentioned that IT security was one of Top 3 key topics globally.
"Cybersecurity is a very interesting topic. In today's business realm, corporate security is oftentimes a responsibility of CFOs, not CIOs. In the United States, we've recently witnessed a lot of cases of cyberattacks on online retailers. In Iran, hackers were able to suspend a nuclear reactor functionality, so the country had to involve U.S. and Israeli security experts to troubleshoot the issue."
Asked how he evaluates Ukraine's cybersecurity potential, Sean replied:
"I believe Ukraine has a great IT perspective, not just an excellent outsourcing perspective. At the end of the day, we need software engineers and mathematicians to combat cybercrime, and your country has them in abundance! What I can recommend to Ukrainian private and public sector IT businesses is they have to invest more in building their own cybersecurity solutions and creating a strong ecosystem of products that have global competitive potential. And they have to start doing it now because it's going to be a critical part of the global IT agenda in 5 - 7 years, so they should brace themselves for this.
Today, anti-hacker solutions are in high demand everywhere, and I believe this is something that can give a hard push to Ukraine's development as an IT security leader. This is what will differentiate Ukraine from the Philippines that's already an established leader in insurance tech solutions, or from India, the world's largest IT outsourcing hub."
Commenting on the Internet of Things (IoT) evolution and benefits, Sean said the following:
"IoT is an exciting and prospective direction because, according to some assessments, there will be over 50 billion connected devices globally by 2020. The connected things market is growing exponentially and will soon address the needs of aviation, transportation, energy, utilities, and other niches and industries. As such, it's even hard to imagine the scale of catastrophes that can be caused by insecure IoT products. And because Ukraine already has an excellent IT outsourcing profile, you can use existing R&D and competencies to experiment with and build robust cybersecurity solutions.
Ukrainians are very creative. Today's digital revolution would be impossible without developments and contributions from Ukrainian engineers and IT specialists. A lot of innovations are happening here these days, and that's all due to the creativity and inventiveness of the Ukrainian people. And when it comes to computer sciences, creative thinking is what's required in the first place!"
While providing his recommendations for Ukrainian software developers, Sean Manchanda pointed out that Ukrainian tech companies should stop focusing primarily on IT exports and should use present opportunities to capitalize on and lead, not follow others as far as cybersecurity is concerned.
Also, check out our Medium publication about Ukraine's potential as a cloudsourcing leader.
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