Kaspersky plans to set up data transparency centre in India

Russia-based cybersecurity firm Kaspersky is planning to set up a data transparency centre in India, a senior company official has said.

Kaspersky Managing Director (Asia-Pacific) Stephan Neumeier made the remarks while replying to a question on the company's future investment plan with respect to India.

"India is no doubt a key market for us. The country will be releasing a policy on cybersecurity. Kaspersky will first study the policy and accordingly will plan to set up transparency centre in India," he said in an interview here.

The MD, however, did not disclose the investment amount for the project.

The centre in India will be Kaspersky's second in the Asia Pacific region and fourth in the world after the ones in Switzerland, Spain and Malaysia.

The company recently opened its first transparency centre in the APAC region in Malaysia.

"The transparency centres in Switzerland and Spain serve as a facility for trusted partners and government stakeholders to review the company's code, software updates, and threat detection rules. In addition, the storage and processing of user data from some regions, shared voluntarily with the Kaspersky Security Network, together with our software development infrastructure will all be relocated from Russia to Switzerland," Kaspersky said explaining the function of a transparency centre.

India will be releasing a cybersecurity strategy policy in January next year.

While noting that the global health and pharmaceutical industry is facing threat of data breach, Neumeier further said his company is in talks with few top hospitals in South India to provide cyber security protection to them.

He also said that in India, Kaspersky has emerged as a strong alternative to the western players and is among the top cybersecurity providers in the consumer market in India.

Neumeier had last year said India has the potential to become the top market in terms of mobile consumers in the APAC region in next 5-10 years, driven by a sharp increase in usage of handsets and tablets and there is a need for raising awareness about cybersecurity among younger generation.