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'Secure Your WiFi Before It's Too Late'
Kunal Gangar, Oct 17, 2008 1139 hrs ISTWarns Kartik Shahani-- McAfee's Regional Director
McAfee recently revealed their new range of 2009 Security Suites which includes different solutions like McAfee Total Protection, McAfee Internet Security, and McAfee VirusScan Plus. We had the chance to meet up with the man behind the launch in India, Kartik Shahani, Regional Director with McAfee.
How do you distinguish McAfee products with those of competitors?
We have been in the security business for the past 21 years. Our products are technology driven and many McAfee products are rated pretty high than its competitors in terms of catch rates (virus, malware, spam). Our 2009's McAfee Security Suites are instant, silent, complete. It means that our security solution is fast, optimized to consume less resources, unobtrusive which doesn't bother the user for every action to be taken and a comprehensive solution to protect from phishing, malware, spam, encryption of data etc.
Piracy is still rampant in countries like India, does lowering the price of products can fetch more users?
The question is how lower you want to take it. You could get a lot of customers if you give it away for free, but that is not our intent. Because if we did that a company will not be able fund for the product improvement, product research and not even acquisitions can happen with such a strategy. So, the fact of the matter is that if you want a quality product and quality support one needs to invest in it. This investment is always amortized with a better product. The point is that you can lower the prices but it will eventually lower the quality of the product.
Any possibility that McAfee software will support regional language?
This question I would say is more relevant to China than it is to India. The reason is that our product is not seen, it is felt. So, if you're not going to see it, it doesn't matter on what language you work on is the same as your OS language. But for countries like China, their primary speaking language is not English so it becomes important to cater to them in their local language.
What is the approximate market share of McAfee products in India and around the globe?
I don't have it. I would say it is difficult to keep a tab on them actually because a large percentage of users come from online registration. There are also a large number of users coming in from OEMs. For instance, Dell pre-bundles the anti-virus in US and then sell it in India which makes things a bit difficult. It is also vague to rank security companies position in the market because of this peculiarity.
Whom do you see as a bigger threat - viruses, spywares or spam and Why?
Each of them has a different implication. If lets assume you face threat of data theft, then sypware will be helpful, if your resources like time, money and effort are getting eaten, then it is spam and if the threat is to data getting corrupted then it is viruses. But all of them are hazardous.
According to a report, India ranks 7th in the World and 1st in Asia for producing spam, what is your take considering India has less internet penetration than China or even US?
I can't comment on someone else's report. All I can say is that the bandwidth availability in India is increasing and this can be possible.
Use of wireless networks is increasing but most of them use it insecurely. How can they protect their network from hacking or leeching?
By not protecting the network, the users are not only loosing data, they are also giving their money (in the form of bandwidth) to someone else. The best way to educate people is when you've got examples of disaster. Don't you think these threats were there three years before? It is when these threats start hurting people; they want to hear about them. It is better to protect before the pain occurs rather than stay unprotected and be sorry later.
Finally, what future do you see for the security companies considering OS companies are pre-installing security features in the OS? (Windows Defender is pre-installed on Vista; Microsoft may also include an anti-virus in their next OS.)
So how many organizations are there which operate totally on Windows? There are some, but there are organizations whose operations are carried only on Linux systems or a mix of both. So, in such a scenario, we come to their rescue. We will provide solutions that will work on Windows and Linux. Thus there is a situation of co-existence. Microsoft cannot be termed as a threat, but they would be just like another competitor.
How do you distinguish McAfee products with those of competitors?
We have been in the security business for the past 21 years. Our products are technology driven and many McAfee products are rated pretty high than its competitors in terms of catch rates (virus, malware, spam). Our 2009's McAfee Security Suites are instant, silent, complete. It means that our security solution is fast, optimized to consume less resources, unobtrusive which doesn't bother the user for every action to be taken and a comprehensive solution to protect from phishing, malware, spam, encryption of data etc.
Piracy is still rampant in countries like India, does lowering the price of products can fetch more users?
The question is how lower you want to take it. You could get a lot of customers if you give it away for free, but that is not our intent. Because if we did that a company will not be able fund for the product improvement, product research and not even acquisitions can happen with such a strategy. So, the fact of the matter is that if you want a quality product and quality support one needs to invest in it. This investment is always amortized with a better product. The point is that you can lower the prices but it will eventually lower the quality of the product.
Any possibility that McAfee software will support regional language?
This question I would say is more relevant to China than it is to India. The reason is that our product is not seen, it is felt. So, if you're not going to see it, it doesn't matter on what language you work on is the same as your OS language. But for countries like China, their primary speaking language is not English so it becomes important to cater to them in their local language.
What is the approximate market share of McAfee products in India and around the globe?
I don't have it. I would say it is difficult to keep a tab on them actually because a large percentage of users come from online registration. There are also a large number of users coming in from OEMs. For instance, Dell pre-bundles the anti-virus in US and then sell it in India which makes things a bit difficult. It is also vague to rank security companies position in the market because of this peculiarity.
Whom do you see as a bigger threat - viruses, spywares or spam and Why?
Each of them has a different implication. If lets assume you face threat of data theft, then sypware will be helpful, if your resources like time, money and effort are getting eaten, then it is spam and if the threat is to data getting corrupted then it is viruses. But all of them are hazardous.
According to a report, India ranks 7th in the World and 1st in Asia for producing spam, what is your take considering India has less internet penetration than China or even US?
I can't comment on someone else's report. All I can say is that the bandwidth availability in India is increasing and this can be possible.
Use of wireless networks is increasing but most of them use it insecurely. How can they protect their network from hacking or leeching?
By not protecting the network, the users are not only loosing data, they are also giving their money (in the form of bandwidth) to someone else. The best way to educate people is when you've got examples of disaster. Don't you think these threats were there three years before? It is when these threats start hurting people; they want to hear about them. It is better to protect before the pain occurs rather than stay unprotected and be sorry later.
Finally, what future do you see for the security companies considering OS companies are pre-installing security features in the OS? (Windows Defender is pre-installed on Vista; Microsoft may also include an anti-virus in their next OS.)
So how many organizations are there which operate totally on Windows? There are some, but there are organizations whose operations are carried only on Linux systems or a mix of both. So, in such a scenario, we come to their rescue. We will provide solutions that will work on Windows and Linux. Thus there is a situation of co-existence. Microsoft cannot be termed as a threat, but they would be just like another competitor.
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