(L-R) Patrick Ndegwa, SEACOM Business Sales Lead, Stanley Chege CIO Madison Group Kenya and Harry Hare Chairman CIO East Africa. [Photo: oxygene.co.ke]
Cloud-based information security solutions hold the key to tackling the new generation of cyber threats confronting Kenyan organisations in a connected world, Pan-African telecom enabler SEACOM has said.Speaking during the SEACOM-CIO Executive Breakfast in Nairobi, Patrick Ndegwa, SEACOM’s Business Sales Lead, said that Kenyan organisations will need to work on designing and implementing resilient information security infrastructure, in the wake of global malware outbreaks that have crippled networks and sent shockwaves across the world.“New information security threats will keep emerging. The recent ransomware attacks are a stark reminder of the complex security risks organisations will face in the coming years. We believe that by embracing enhanced technologies such as cloud computing Kenyan organisations will have access to an affordable but effective solution to deal with rising cyber threats. This is the future and we need to embrace it,” said Ndegwa.In the last decade internet adoption and it’s applications to business processes has led to sweeping changes in Kenya as well as paradigm shifts in the way services are delivered and consumed across African markets.However, in today’s highly connected world, the cost of information security technology and the difficulty of securing skills to manage and implement the solutions has emerged as a key factor in managing cyber threats. Recent malware attacks have highlighted this and the damage to even the smallest business can have devastating effects.“Moving more of a business’s applications – email, Customer Relationship Management, backups, and more – to the cloud can be an opportunity to improve information security. At SEACOM, we host these applications and their data in a secure data centre, featuring the latest technology. It has disciplined processes for updating software and backing up data, taking these administrative headaches away from IT departments,” said Ndegwa.Ndegwa says that the firms who have signed up are already reaping the benefits of technological economies of scale by sharing the cloud solutions with other businesses who sign up for the same services.“Cloud technology’s core business is the secure provision of technology services. It can spread costs over multiple clients. We have invested in the best information security solutions and keep up with the latest security best practices and cyber-threats,” said Ndegwa.This need to realise cost and operational efficiencies while optimising the internet to drive business value is expected to spur the take-up of cloud solutions among Kenyan corporates in the coming years.