In conversation with Mr. Purshottam Bhatia, the Head of sales of South Asia, we get to understand the importance of cyber security software and about cyber threats.

 

  1. What is the main motive for you to visit Nepal?
  • Almost two years have passed away and everybody was under covid. Since there was no traveling, we were not close to the market. Of course, distributors and the team here are doing fantastic work around the market educating the customers. But, there have been many changes. And also a personal connection to the market is required right now. Secondly, evaluating the new ways of communicating to the market and brood with the opportunities. And of course, I love Nepal.

 

  1. What is the status of cyber security in general?
  • I think, in general, cyber threats or crimes have grown significantly. Because what has happened is that the 2020 or Covid pandemic has given us a compulsion-shift to a forceful shift. From offline classes to online or the digitalization that has happened is a forceful shift. The customers were not ready for the threat that were to come with the internet. We see more and more internet penetration, and ease of use, and hence the cyber threat has gone up drastically.

    Earlier, we used to have to push the products out in the market and there was a need to educate the consumers. Now, there is a demand for such securities. Most of them if not all of them, especially youths are now aware of the need.
     
  1. How can parents help their children to keep them safe from cybercrimes and aware them of cyber security?
  • Cybercrime and cyberbullying are relevant to children. Parents can play a very important role in this. We have a product called safe kids which is a standalone product but also comes in a free bundle in Kaspersky total solution. It is a designed product targeting families. If you install a safe-kids, you can set boundaries and stay updated with the device which has been used by your children. This will keep your children from getting exposed to negative content on the internet or exposure to limited screen time. If your child is moving out of your GPS radius that has been set, you will get notified. So, this is a kind of technology we have, especially for families. The best part is, that one product can protect, say, five devices which minimizes the expense as well. Apart from the installation of Kaspersky, parents must educate their children about cybercrimes and the dos and don’ts on the internet.
     
  1. Going on a general market, let’s say as a writer, why do I need any kind of anti-virus software?
  • The basic understanding of the virus is that it slows down the device or corrupts the device. The most important thing in your device is data. Whatever you have written that is stored on your laptop, the document is your asset, right? You have your photographs or personal things on your laptop, if someone attacks, it’s gone.

    So, these days, what cybercriminals are doing is, they throw a Trojan (a kind of bug) in your device which does not immediately act but slowly corrupts the device. It monitors your behavior and activities very closely. Then, when the time comes, it will either lock, ask for money to open up the laptop, or steal your data and might blackmail you for several things.

    As a writer or individual, you need cyber security to protect your identity as well. These days, we are digitally exposed everywhere and given consent for someone to monitor us.  
     
  1. Why do I specifically choose Kaspersky?
  • Kaspersky! We have a legacy of twenty-two years almost. If you see our products, it is the in-house developed product. We have been named amongst the top three across the globe. We have many certifications and awards, specifically, the last four years, the “Gartner peer consumer choice award”, which is based on the reviews of customers who are using the products. If I am to talk technology-wise, we are the pioneers. We develop the technology which the world follows and as product quality, we are the apple of the world.
     
  1. All the achievements might put the company under pressure to stay consistent or even progress more. Could you tell us your near plans?
  • Future looks brighter to us. We are developing the products looking after the minute details and utility. Safe kids what you see now is designed five years ago. Three-year kid playing with gadgets is very common now. This was forecasted five years back, and based on that, we developed the technology. So, we think more about how technology is going to move ahead. If I have to put five years plan, the technology is going to move very fast, so we are. In-house, we are planning to have great futuristic products.
  • For example, we have security called drone-security, which nobody has. The products detect unwanted drones and they can shoot down the drone without a bullet. It can stop that unwanted drone and neutralize it. In cyber security, we work on futuristic, better, and consumer-centric products.

    In terms of investment, we look forward to investing in the Asian market. Globally, what we see is, that the Asian market is becoming the hub of every company for better opportunities and too much potential.

 

  1. There is much-pirated software on the market. Could you tell us how can we get the authentic software?
  • Authenticating can be done via two things.
  1. The products which we supply to the market, come with a seal.
  2. We also have, Mykaspersky.com where customers can go and verify the product. If it is accepted, it is authenticated product otherwise not.

    Generally, we have worked a lot on duplicate products. We have a team globally who works on grey markets, duplicate products, and resale products which we try to eliminate as well. I think now duplicity is a bit limited as there is freemium viability. The valid and reasonable price makes it easy for the customers to buy genuine products.

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       8. What if one detects a bug or error after Kaspersky installation?

  • In Nepal, we have local support. So, if you have already installed Kaspersky, there is a 99.99% chance that you will not get an attack. If your device is infected, the software will hint to you to not open the file. If you still go on opening the file, then there are chances of a hack but it will stop at the first level. If the software is infected, per se, we have first-level support. We also have call center support. We try to see, how better we can help out but again if you are allowing the malware to come in, then the product cannot perform because you have given consent to corruption. We assure you if you have Kaspersky or any named server security product, there are fewer chances that you get the virus.