Interview with Bulent Teksoz, Chief Security Strategist, Emerging Markets Symantec

During his quick visit to Egypt, ICT Business was able to conduct this interview with Symantec’s Chief Security Strategist for Emerging Markets, Mr. Bulent Teksoz.

What is meant by the post of Chief Security Strategist? And what is the reason behind your visit to Egypt at this particular time? And what is the company’s strategy regarding emerging markets?

My work allows me to talk with many CEOs from Symatec’s clients and help them understand and apply their strategies so that they come closest to Symatec’s security strategy. We try together to reach the best possible security solutions and applications to be presented. My visit to Egypt comes within the context of following up on some of our Cairo office business as I am responsible for following up the company’s business in emerging markets especially the Middle East. Among such markets is Egypt which is considered one of the most prominent emerging in the region. I met with some of our bigger clients whether in Egyptian banks or mobile operators to know their security fears and the best means and strategies that best suit them to be applied.

From your point of view does the company’s strategy in Egypt differ than that of other emerging markets?

On the contrary, its one strategy but it’s applied according to the different mechanisms and demands of each country and client whether a governmental entity or private sector company. Our goal is to help our clients secure their data against any penetration either during internet connections or any other time especially that as you know security attacks differ from one country to another according to its circumstances and the strategy it follows. We have strong relations in the Egyptian market and the Egyptian government and we try to protect them from current or future attacks.

Can you tell us about the company’s office in Egypt in terms of growth rate and size of business as well as revenues in the market?

I don’t have figures that I am authorized to reveal especially that we are about to reveal the size of our business and operations for the first quarter of the current year in April. We are considering increasing our investment in Egypt whether the direct or indirect despite the economic situation as we have 10 employees in the company’s branch in Cairo and we are thinking of increasing our distribution channels and business partners.

Do you think the reason behind your existence in Egypt is the non-existence of local companies that could fill the gap in this vital field?

There are companies that work 100 percent in the field of data security in Egypt. Our role is purely consultative as we work through our business partners and certified distribution channels. There are clauses to any agreement that we sign in Egypt regarding privacy and secrecy of information and data so that it could not be divulged to any entity no matter what. These mechanisms depend on the company’s reputation. The codes pertaining to our products are totally safe and impenetrable and there is no possibility to illegally reach these data.

If Symatec is capable of doing all of this, then why was a young man able to penetrate the Norton code?

This in fact did happen but to the older version of Norton codes of 6 years ago. We alerted all our clients who use Norton 2006 but other clients who use later versions are safe from danger.

In one of the reports of the fourteenth edition which was issued over a year ago you accused Egypt of being less aware of data security. How do you view the situation now in Egypt? No one can deny the increase in awareness in Egypt in the last period especially with the Egyptian revolution and the new generation that extensively uses Facebook and Twitter as well as other social networking means in addition to smart devices and tablets. Security attacks and electronic threats have increased at an alarming rate. Lack of awareness is not a threat in itself but rather a challenge that we are facing. A country such as KSA was an exporter of spam throughout last year. Many hackers used some weakness points and sent millions of spam which created a big problem.

What about the lack of human expertise in this field?

On the contrary Egypt has many efficient human cadres in this specialization and one of the most prominent challenges that it is facing is its inability to keep up with changes happening in the market.

What do you think of level of care for data security in Egypt in terms of expenditure and the fact that it is not a luxury anymore?

Expenditure on data security is increasing from a time to another in the Middle East region which witnessed the spring of Arab revolutions. This increase gives us the push to increase and grow the size of our investment in this field. A world report affirms that in 2011 and 2012 will witness data security becoming the foremost concern for organizations and institutions but i cannot pinpoint the amount of expenditure as each country is different from the others.

If we move to Symantec’s strategy in 2012, will it be different than that of 2011?

Our strategy in 2012 is built on care besides securing data and information for our clients whether they are government bodies or private sector companies. Our expectations are that attacks will increase in 2012 especially on mobile phones. In 2012 attack rates will increase for certain items. In the period from November 2011until January attacks increase by 4 times with 49 specified targets per day. Let me confirm one important thing which is that attacks will be less this year but will be more intricate and complicated and will target economic entities like what happened in the Saudi Exchange lately and there are expectations that there will be attacks on banks to steal credit card data pertaining to clients.

How does Symantec view the reality of social networks in the increase of attacks and threats for users in the Middle East?

Social networks are spreading from time to time and there will be attacks in 2012 targeting such sites. Within a few days security solutions will be launched to prevent the leakage of data from Tablet PCs and smart phones as we have and integrated solutions for Tablet PCs and Android to prevent such devices from leaking information.

Can you estimate international losses on one side and Egyptian and Arab region losses on the other?

I have the figures for international losses last year which reached 388 billion dollars and there are expectations that they will increase this year.

What did Symantec gain from selling its share in Huawei Symatec for 530million US dollars? What prompted this sale?

First we had a share of49% of Huawei and we decided either to buy the rest of the shares or sell ours shares. Eventually we decided to sell for this sum of money to invest in research and development and we did buy Live Office last month at a value of 115 million dollars.