In this short interview with TechTravelMonitor, Simon Eappariello, senior vice president for EMEA & APJ of iboss shared insights on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI).
Eappariello was one of the technology leaders invited to speak during the recently held 2024 VSTECS CXO Tech Summit which highlighted the challenges, impacts, and business opportunities that AI can bring.
Eappariello also discussed how complexity breeds risk, and how iboss—a global cloud security leader–can help companies reduce these risks.
How can iboss help global organizations handle cybersecurity?
According to Eappariello, iboss usually recommends companies consolidate. In cybersecurity, Cybersecurity there are layers, which Eappariello referred to as an “onion effect” where there are a lot of layers, and thus a lot of complexities.
“What iboss does is help companies reduce and consolidate the number of vendors and products that they are using to reduce risk and complexities. Complexity breeds risk,” Eappariello said.
How does AI affect cybersecurity?
Eappariello said AI could be used for the wrong reasons. One simple example, he said, is altering copyright or design.
“People could also use AI for writing code, and for sometimes cyberattack. AI does bring a lot challenges,” Eappariello added.
The executive said iboss can help companies “monitor” how AI can be used against organizations.
“So there are two ways: AI can be allowed or AI cannot be allowed. There are solutions that can monitor the interaction between employees and AI. A security team can actually see what is being asked and block it if needed. Iboss focuses on lowering the risk,” Eappariello said.
What is Zero Trust?
Eappariello further said Zero Trust is a “set of principles and not a product.” The main principle, he said, is “don’t trust anyone or anything.”
“Anyone or any device, any information that goes to the iboss platform, we don’t trust it,” Eappariello explained, adding that processes are often in place to know who are you, you’re identity and what security policies are allowed to access.
This is in contrast to previous practices, where if a person or a device is in a building, the computer system automatically says “It is there.”
“Zero Trust is very much focused on building a set of policies. For example, checking the posture of the device. Am I in the Philippines, is my anti-virus updated, what resources can you access, etc.” he further explained.
Eappariello however said Zero Trust is not the ultimate solution. “There will be no complete silver bullet. Everything we do is reducing risk to protect the organization’s crown jewels, be it productivity, information, data, etc.”
What is your take on the recent GCash incident?
When asked about the recent incident involving GCash, Eappariello said: “It can happen, but it seems to be an inadvertent inside process that went wrong.”
The executive likened the inadvertent inside process to a person or a system sending a document to the wrong receiver.
“Normally organizations are under conditions to report these incidents. If this is regulatory in nature, you have to report it. But in this case, it is more fund, and I think no personal information has been breached,” Eappariello said, emphasizing that it is “a process that has gone wrong.”
READ ALSO: 5 things to know about the GCash incident
Plans for the Philippines
Eappariello further added that iboss continues to perform well in the Philippines, particularly in sectors such as government agencies, finance, power, and online gaming.
Diana De Guzman, iboss channel manager for APAC added that one of the company’s recent partnerships involved one of the biggest casinos in the country. She said iboss was tapped to provide cybersecurity solutions for the company’s online gaming services.
Iboss also has ongoing partnerships with Philippine companies that are utilizing hybrid work setups.
She further disclosed that iboss is in the process of setting up a facility at Clark in Pampanga, as part of its expansion plans.
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