Overview

Earlier this year, the Government of India announced 16th January, 2022 as “National Startup Day”. Perceived as the backbone of India, the startup ecosystem is envisioned to foster innovation, and strengthen the digital infrastructure along with an overall growth of the nation.  This is an exciting time for startups and an excellent initiative as well. However, as an Information Security proponent, we would like to bring the area of Information Security at the forefront of this initiative. As modern startups build businesses on the foundation of digital technologies, robust infrastructure is essential to thwart looming IT threats.  

Information Security goes hand in hand with startup initiatives

In a typical startup, IT security measures and concerns generally take a back seat. With so many parameters such as registrations, legal permissions, investment, suppliers, logistics, pricing among other areas dominating the list of priorities, Information Security policies typically take a backseat. This happens due to the prevailing misconception that Information Security is a problem for large organizations with a large and distributed environment.  There are numerous inherent risks associated with the IT security loopholes of the startups. 
  • Startups are targeted directly by the malefactors to penetrate bigger targets via mutually shared and accessible databases
  • To ensure operational efficiency from the beginning, start-ups deploy advanced technologies without considering adequate IT security measures
  • There might not be any dedicated IT team in a startup - even if they have, the number of resources might not be sufficient; as a result, cyber incident response is comparatively slower
 

How to ensure IT security?

India, in the recent past, is witnessing a massive surge in adopting advanced and sophisticated technologies, thanks to the “Digital India” drive. However, can we claim this initiative revolutionary unless there is adequate cyber resilience? It is mandatory irrespective of small startups or large organizations. As the confidential business data is migrated to one or more multiple digital platforms separately, it starts challenging the IT security preparedness of the startup. The organizations need to adapt to the trends from the very beginning of this transition. Extensive dissemination of Information Security awareness among the startups cannot just ensure cyber resilience but also comply with the regulatory standards. Compliance rules are applicable to every organization. Even the smallest startups might have access to a huge customer database that could fall under global/ regional regulatory standards.  Identity and access control vulnerabilities lead to data breaches. With any stringent IT security policy, a single data breach incident might halt the startup even before it takes off. It could even damage brand value before creation. In this scenario, a robust identity and access management practice is highly imperative to ensure secured IT administration. Related solutions secures every access to data resources in the IT environment.   

Conclusion

India is eyeing to fulfill its dream of becoming a leading startup destination globally. While there is dedicated support from the Government, the IT security policies, once implemented, could ensure reliable and handsome investment from all over the world. In the next couple of years, India is expecting the best contribution in GDP from the startups. To materialize that dream, adoption of robust IT security policies and adequate awareness to follow those policies is a must. Without it, the emerging IT threat patterns might play spoilsport.