As part of its efforts to encourage IT awareness and adoption in the Indian SMB segment, Microsoft in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has announced the Annual IT Security Leaders Awards for the SMB segment. The award has been instituted to recognize and reward individuals and their companies in the SMB sector across India for pioneering security initiatives.
There are four categories of awards including the Best Overall Security Strategy & Implementation, which is aimed at recognising institutions that have best overall people, processes andtechnology strategy for implementation of a secure IT framework; Best Overall Security Strategy & Implementation – with a Microsoft Backbone, that focuses on how Microsoft Technologies have been employed to design a security framework; Best Setup integrating Compliance & Security, to recognize those institutions which have best managed to embed regulatory policies into their security or IT framework; and Best effectiveness in raising IT awareness among employees to recognize those institutions which have devised innovative schemes and methods to ensure employee adherence. The last date for entries/ nominations is 2nd April 2008 . To participate, one needs to register at www.Securityleadersawards.com. This will be followed by four phases of detailed assessment of the solutions deployed, including a phase where nominations and case studies will be presented and discussed before a board. The winners, selected by an eminent panel of industry leaders and academicians, will be announced at a gala awards function in the second quarter of 2008.
Announcing the awards, Rajeev Mittal, General Manager, SMB, Microsoft India said, “As Indian SMBs increase their levels of investments in IT and move up the IT maturity curve, the importance of commensurate security measures to safeguard these investments cannot be overstated. We hope that these Awards will encourage those who have excelled and inspire those who want to improve IT Security in their organizations.”
Added Sivarama Krishnan, Executive Director, PwC “It is encouraging to see the importance SMBs are already giving to IT Security in their company. With this initiative we hope to provide them a platform to share experiences and best practices. We believe that learning from the finest among them is the best way to improve in this extremely important area”.
A recent Microsoft-AMI partners report on IT adoption in Indian SMBs stated that over 36 percent of the mid-market businesses surveyed had IT security as one of their key focus areas for the year.
Microsoft has had a multifold focus on delivering the highest possible standards of IT security. Under its ‘Trustworthy Computing Initiative' the Company is focusing on making the platform inherently more secure, and is making huge investments in training developers and testers in order to design products which are aligned to the highest norms of security. Microsoft also offers the best of breed IT ecurity products, such as the Forefront family of business security products that offer powerful protection of network infrastructure. In India, initiatives such as The Microsoft Security Summit to build awareness about holistic security among IT Professionals & Developers, and Microsoft's Chief Security Officer Forum which is a platform to build a community of Chief Security officers in the government and enterprise segment, have also seen tremendous participation.
PwC's concerns for IT security resonate with those of Microsoft. Pioneer of security advisory practice in India , PwC today has one of the largest teams among consulting organisations in India , with professionals holding leading industry certifications such as CISSP, CISA, SANS, BS7799, CEH etc. PwC provides services to some of India 's leading private organizations and government bodies in the area of IT security. PwC has recently been judged by Forrester Research as “A Leader in Security Consulting with Great Strategy and Experience” for offering a mature consulting practice for IT security.
|
