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Evgeniya Naumova

Evgeniya Naumova is Executive VP of Corporate Business and Deputy CBDO, Commercial at Kaspersky, responsible for business strategy and sales growth within the region. She holds a PhD in economic science and has written many articles in the media about the development of intellectual potential in industrial enterprises.

Latest stories by Evgeniya

Transparency isn’t about your business – it’s about your customers

  • Data and privacy
  • min read
    • Our new digitalized business environment relies on trust. We trust our technology, brands, partnerships and more. Many things can help build trust, like our long-term relationship with a brand or the strength of its reputation. When it comes to tech, when we don't understand how something works or how it handles our data, we trust less easily. So, when it comes to winning trust, transparency helps – like clear verification and risk mitigation measures. Do users care about transparency? In 2021 Kaspersky published its research with over 15,000 adults in 23 countries on their attitudes to online privacy in its report, Consumer appetite versus action: The state of data privacy amid growing digital dependency. We found most of these consumers expected greater transparency about how their data was handled, with 62 percent saying they worry their online activities are constantly tracked by websites or services they use. A similar proportion (63 percent) said they felt transparency of technologies and companies was necessary for digital transformation. Do businesses think the same? International Data Group (IDC) predicted at the end of 2021 that by 2025, half of the world's top 2,000 public companies would be employing more diverse data scientists with the intent to improve customer trust. But what about the other half? Edelman Trust Barometer has studied trust in business, governments, media and other organizations for over 20 years, now with over 36,000 respondents in 28 countries. In 2021, the study found falling levels of public trust in media and government. People felt institutions are not addressing their concerns around job loss, climate change and cybersecurity. The study notes, "We see an even greater expectation of business to lead as trust in government continues to spiral." Taking action on trust and transparency Kaspersky's Global Transparency Initiative (GTI) is now five years old. We've invested many hours and much resource in it because we believe openness and transparency are crucial for cybersecurity. What does GTI involve? We've opened Transparency Centers in several countries and taken a range of actions to be more transparent with our customers, from making our source code available for public review to relocating part of our cyberthreat-related processing infrastructure to Switzerland. Here's more on how the initiative is evolving. We also have a bug bounty program, generously rewarding security researchers who report a vulnerability in our products. Building business cyber-resilience through learning In a digital world, business must be cyber-resilient. Any compromise to IT infrastructure can lead to business loss. As part of our GTI, Kaspersky is helping its partners and customers gain the tools and knowledge to protect themselves and choose reliable software. Our Cyber Capacity Building Program, available online and offline, helps businesses, academia and government organizations to learn skills to ensure the security and integrity of integrated third-party applications and identify and manage cybersecurity risks. We developed GTI as thought leadership – we hope that the rest of our industry will follow suit. But it also protects our biggest asset – our users and their trust. We want to share our experience, expertise and knowledge with the widest audience possible. Because transparency isn't about us, it's about our customers.
Managing international team

To succeed in leading an international team, use these specific skills

  • Leadership
  • min read
    • Managing one person can be hard enough, but as your team grows, so do the complexities. Managing a large international team across multiple time zones, with different social and business norms, presents new challenges. And with unforeseen pressures like COVID-19, it's easy to see why many say managing people is an art, not a science. How do you unite and motivate a diverse, international team at times like these? There is no 'one size fits all' answer, but I believe these insights will put you on the path to success. 1.   Use shared values to unite your team There can be many obstacles and barriers that divide people. One of the best ways to overcome differences is to promote fundamental principles that can unite everyone. A great place to start is sharing and defining the core values of your company – its vision, mission and promise. At Kaspersky, for example, we "bring on the future." Each of our employees is empowered to embrace this forward-looking approach and know their work is building a safer world. While building a team around a common purpose, a successful manager must also demonstrate strong ethics and zero tolerance for any kind of insensitivity. Motivate your people to acknowledge, accept and respect differences. 2.   Communicate informally to build trust Building trust can be difficult and time-consuming. But once earned, it is priceless. Informal communication is common in an office environment but becomes more challenging with a geographically separated team. Think about opportunities to initiate such conversations – for example, casual chats before video conferences start, where all participants can discuss recent news or life events. This lets your team get to know and understand their distant workmates. 3.   Be clear and precise when you share information Strong and timely communication brings colleagues up-to-speed and lets them share experiences. It also helps you see opportunities and issues early. Clarity is especially important when your team members have different first languages or are in different time zones. Promoting precision in communication means fewer misunderstandings to slow your team's progress. Achieving clarity and precision is easier said than done. For some pointers, try MindTools' guide to writing effective emails and Workzone's 15 simple ways to improve team communications. 4.   Engage those on the ground in decision-making Those who do the everyday work of your company know the ins and outs, especially what works in their region or country. They may also have a detached view of decisions coming from above. Head office and senior management should always involve people on the frontline in their decision-making. Hearing multiple viewpoints can significantly improve business results. It also motivates team members to share ideas that benefit all and share responsibility for the outcome. They take processes to heart, which means more understanding, acceptance and better implementation of the decisions that have been made. 5.   Set goals, track performance and give help when needed Planning is important. Interim targets help an international team understand and synchronize to achieve company-wide goals. Let people on the ground know you have their back. It's a powerful way to unleash their potential and talent. 6.   Lead by example Team members tend to align with their leaders. Setting an example is one of the best ways to implement good habits and unite people around them. If you want to encourage your staff to use a digital sales tool, you must use it. If you want everyone to respond promptly to emails, act in a timely way and be honest – show the way. Successfully managing an international team means developing and using soft skills: Communication, listening and empathy. It's getting your points across, but also listening, being flexible and showing your appreciation. Using these skills, you can turn the daily work routine into a day that employees are eager to engage in, and where they feel respected and valued. And in doing so, you and your business are also destined to succeed.
B2B sales digital transformation

In B2B sales, there’s a secret to nailing digital transformation

  • Business
  • min read
    • Digital transformation (also called digitalization) means deep and wide change to technology use in all areas of a business, including sales. Every organization had to face this critical reality during lockdown. Organizational change experts McKinsey & Company's recent survey of over 3,600 businesses in B2B sales showed they thought the COVID-19 crisis had roughly doubled the importance of remote selling. 90 percent had either moved or were moving entirely to remote sales. Corporate culture and mindsets must also shift if this change is to work. It's a big ask in a small timeframe. So, how? Strategy for transformation in little time Each company treads its own path, but good digital transformation strategies have a few things in common. They clearly define the goal and high-level processes around it. They show understanding of what each team does, recognizing how their daily work will change. They have milestones along the way and show how things will change when each is reached. Under lockdown, businesses faced losing the personal touch. Employees couldn't meet customers or partners to build a relationship or negotiate face-to-face. The need to take sales online was acute. Familiar for B2C, it was now a challenge for B2B. But we also know there are many potential benefits. To name just a few, customer expectations of the sales process are changing: Some prefer not to meet with vendors, and many want to do their own research. Analyzing digitalized sales data means we can make more evidence-informed improvements to what we do. In 2020, my team at Kaspersky planned to increase our use of digital tools in selling smoothly. COVID-19 forced us to implement our framework in the first few months. We kicked off a system of transformations. By the start of April, we were running a successful, worldwide pilot, communicating with enterprise customers and partners using social media. It meant we could fast organize remote PoCs (Proofs of Concept) leading to contracts for thousands of licenses and the odd one-day sale. Change how you sell, change the culture Digital transformation also means changing your company culture, like how people communicate or manage processes. How they adapt to change influences how the sales ecosystem develops. Starting a big project gets more challenging when your team is in a surprise new setting, as happened with the rapid global shift to working from home. To support sales managers in a digital environment, give clear guidance on how they should use their new options. I'll give you an example. As part of our program to go digital, my team began a campaign to give our regional home-based sales teams new skills for digital selling and social networking. We showed how the skills and know-how they used in person worked just as well for their 'new normal.' We united the team by showcasing everyone's efforts. The result? Sales went up. Understand your customers are facing the same change We knew our partners and customers were going through rapid digital transformation too. We wanted to make sure the fast transition didn't become 'scary' for them, associated with risks and the unknown. The COVID-19 pandemic meant digital transformation became inevitable, but they could take comfort in having choices. To make sure transformation was a success, our team worked with other departments, like HR, IT and Communications, to provide managers and partners with insights about how to work remotely with customers. They needed to be able to build bridges and trust to make sure they were giving customers the right advice. No matter the tools you use, in the real world or online, it's professionalism and expertise that seal the deal. The past six months have shown digital transformation is a must. Before, businesses had some discretion over the speed of change. Now, circumstances have made it urgent. Together, the efforts of companies, their partners and customers to embrace the 'new normal' can make the buying and selling business-to-business work better for all.
technologies helping to fight coronavirus.

How tech and innovation are fighting the coronavirus, COVID-19

  • Tech for good
  • min read
    • Innovation is a profound kind of recycling. Innovators go through the closets, sheds and attics of human knowledge, taking snippets of what we already know and combining them in new ways, solving new problems. Despite mass quarantine and isolation, innovations appear almost daily that aim to save lives and support people's well-being in the face of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Here are six ways technology is taking on the novel virus. 1.  Folding proteins on home computers to speed up finding a COVID-19 antibody The power of home computers is helping scientists develop an antibody to stop COVID-19 infecting lung cells. You can take part by downloading a protein folding simulator. Why simulate how proteins fold? According to Ariana Brenner Clerkin of Folding@home, COVID-19 first infects people when a protein on the virus surface (the spike protein) binds to a lung cell's receptor protein (ACE2). They've already developed an antibody for similar coronavirus SARS. To find one for Covid-19, they must better understand the spike protein's structure. They need to study all shapes the spike protein can make. Folding@home models the Covid-19 spike protein and finds sites for an antibody to target. Computational models can do the folding, but they need a lot of computing power. Many computers working toward the same goal will speed up finding an antibody. The data that comes out of Folding@home is open to all. 2.  Crowdsourcing protein design against the coronavirus The free online game FoldIt goes a step further and crowdsources designing a protein that may become a future COVID-19 antiviral. Run by scientists alongside the University of Washington Institute for Protein Design, the game lets users design a protein that will bind with COVID-19's spike proteins. https://youtu.be/gGvlNo3nMfw 3.  Community-engineered ventilators powered by car windscreen-wiper motors In severe cases, COVID-19 affects lung function to the extent that patients may need a ventilator to breathe. Several countries face a shortage of ventilators, and it looks like ramping up their manufacture through current supply lines may not be enough. This led a group of some 17 engineers led by Spanish prototyping company Protofy to develop OxyGEN – a ventilator that uses a car windscreen-wiper motor to automate a resuscitation bag. Protofy says an untrained person can make it in four hours using wood, acrylic or aluminum. This wonderfully calming video shows the ventilator in action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5Kz3ukK8Pc&feature=youtu.be The group is now working alongside two Spanish hospitals to test and improve the device. Although not yet determined safe and effective, the group has made the OxyGEN ventilator's plans freely available. They've invited engineers, makers and any other "geek" to a forum to ventilate their ideas for improving OxyGEN's design. 4.  Training AI to detect signs of coronavirus in speech Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, said in a virtual conference, "We have a simple message for all countries: Test, test, test." But with all the will in the world, testing time, facilities and expertise are limited. AI could help relieve that burden if it can detect COVID-19 by using the sound of someone's voice. Voice forensics expert Professor Rita Singh of Carnegie Mellon University, Israeli inventor Shmuel Ur and natural language processing startup Voca.ai are developing an AI-powered system that could detect coronavirus infections using a voice sample. Voca.ai invites members of the public to submit a voice sample that they say will be anonymized, aggregated and studied. Some privacy and security implications come to mind here. A voice sample may not fit the definition of personal data in many jurisdictions. Still, with biometric identification technology fast becoming more common, it may be the type of data that's easily de-anonymized. The study's consent form also says they may pass the 'anonymized' data on to third parties. 5.  Charlotte and Dave: 3D-printable valves that connect a snorkeling mask to oxygen supply Former hospital physician Renato Favero came up with an idea to fix Italy's shortage of hospital CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) masks: Adjusting a snorkeling mask. He took the idea to engineering and design firm Isinnova. The snorkeling mask's manufacturer willingly supplied its design drawings. From there, Isinnova designed 3D-printable components that can connect the mask to wall-mounted oxygen and CPAP respirators. Here's a video introducing you to the two new 3D-printed valves, Charlotte and Dave. https://youtu.be/w4Csqdxkrfw Although not certified and meant only for a situation where there is no other option, Isinnova has patented the valve pattern and made it freely available. 6.  Remote hackathon unleashes 42,000 minds on COVID-19 In March 2020, Germany held a remote Hackathon #WirvsVirus: Hacking to fight the crisis. In English, We versus Virus. The country's biggest digital ideas competition to date, the virtual event attracted 42,000 participants. They used Airtable to organize teams to collaborate remotely on 800 challenges around the virus's impacts – from contact tracing, to border controls, to motivating people to stay home. What ideas have come out of it? Here's the #WirvsVirus solutions showcase. One example is TrackCOVIDCluster, an app that could help with contact tracing by identifying and notifying people you've been near if you test positive. https://youtu.be/7puF5B9L01s Although a hackathon aims to get as many ideas as possible on the table rather than assess their viability, the team behind TrackCOVIDCluster has had privacy in mind from the start. What can everyday innovators learn from these ideas? What stands out is how fast these ideas have become something tangible and the teams' openness to sharing. It's heartening to see so many willing to give whatever they can for the greater good. It seems a radical question, and yet, you needn't look far for business leaders who say things like, the secret to success is generosity and it's everyone's job to give something back. The healthcare industry itself is not immune to the risks of life-threatening cyberattacks. In this critical situation, medical staff takes on most of the load. So to help these organizations focus on what matters most, Kaspersky is offering free licenses for many of our healthcare products. With economic tough times expected alongside the technological challenge of fighting COVID-19, there's no better time to ask how we can make generosity a bigger part of business, leadership and life.
it budget

The battle for business buy-in: Three ways to justify your IT security spend

  • Finance and budgets
  • min read
    • Proving return on investment in IT security – an almost impossible task for IT professionals. Why? Because they're often found trying to balance budget limitations, while constantly fighting to stay ahead of the evolving threat landscape to protect your business. But times are changing. Companies are starting to treat IT security as an important investment, rather than simply a cost-center. That said, justifying IT cybersecurity investment is still a challenge. So, here are three reasons why it's crucial for businesses to keep their cybersecurity strategy up to date, in terms of both budget and approach. A cyberattack could cripple your business… seriously It's no secret: businesses of all sizes and industries are prioritizing cybersecurity spend. Enterprises now spend almost a third of their IT budget ($8.9M) on cybersecurity, and budgets are expected to rise over the next three years. Both small medium businesses (SMBs) and enterprises predict they will spend up to 15 percent more on cybersecurity until 2022. Why? Because people are realizing that cybersecurity attacks can be devastating. Ransomware WannaCry stopped the production lines of five Renault factories, while a similar cyber-threat, exPetr, cost Maersk – the world's largest container ship and supply company – between 200 and 300 million US dollars. Along with threatening current business operations, cyber-threats impact future-focused initiatives. For example, digital transformation and operational mobility projects require organizations to operate a growing IT infrastructure, meaning they might lose sight of what's happening to their data. Consequently, data could be compromised or even encrypted. The Zepto ransomware, which was spread via cloud storage apps, is a prime example of this threat in action. The cost of dealing with cyberattacks is on the rise – especially when you take into account factors like hiring external consultants, acquiring new software, and dealing with PR risks and litigations, to name a few. With those costs rising and crucial business operations being put at risk, it's no surprise that senior leaders are getting involved in the cybersecurity debate. But it's not just their own infrastructure they have to think about. 2. Your supplier networks are a threat, even when your business is protected Breaches can happen even if your business is protected. Sounds crazy, but it's true. Normally breaches happen through supply chain attacks or as a result of vulnerabilities in third party software. A case in point: American retailer Target. Hackers accessed the company's network through its ventilation and air conditioning vendor, costing them $18.5m. This was followed by the Equifax breach; the company was hacked through a vulnerability in legitimate open source software – software in which anyone can view the code. The hackers gained access to their databases, stealing 145m accounts with crucial client data like names, social security numbers, dates of birth, addresses and even credit card numbers. Equinox had to pay around $700m to settle the breach. Ouch. 3. Protect your business data, wherever it is Cloud services offer many benefits to businesses, from taking advantage of a more efficient mobile workforce, to reducing infrastructure costs and optimizing business operations. Our research shows that 73 percent of SMBs use at least one software as a service (SaaS) hosted business application, while 45 percent of enterprises have either already raised or are planning to grow their use of hybrid cloud in the next 12 months. However, as businesses move more and more data to the cloud, it's easy to lose track of what you're transferring, or where it's kept. Data 'on the go' that's stored outside of the corporate data center – for example, in third party IT infrastructure – is presenting businesses with new security issues and new costs. The most expensive incidents in 2017 to 2018 related to cloud environments and data protection issues. For example, for SMBs, two-thirds of the most expensive cybersecurity incidents are related to the cloud and third party hosted IT infrastructure failures, resulting in an average loss of $179K. That's why it's so important to consider a dedicated level of cybersecurity when moving workloads to cloud platforms. Cybersecurity needs to be a core function of IT infrastructure For businesses of any size, cyberattacks are a risk – many companies today deal with third party contractors, cloud infrastructure and a growing amount of sensitive customer and business data. To reach the right level of cybersecurity, it needs to be a core part of the IT infrastructure. When cybersecurity is a core function, solutions can then be put in place, meaning physical and virtual machines, containers, operating systems and cloud systems can be protected in a flexible way. This is particularly necessary when dealing with visibility on hybrid cloud infrastructure – or cloud systems where multiple parties have access. Last but not least: businesses have to realize their responsibility for data that's stored in cloud applications and platforms. A false sense of safety and relying on providers to ensure security can be extremely costly. Your data is your responsibility so invest in keeping it under lock and key. Article published in 2019, statistics correct at time of publishing.
small business cybersecurity

How to protect your small business from cyber-threats

  • IT infrastructure
  • min read
    • Small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) play an incredibly important role in economies worldwide. They work hard to make sure everything keeps ticking over. According to recent Kaspersky research, 43 percent of SMB leaders said they chose to keep people working at any cost during the pandemic. But keeping their staff involved wasn't the only big challenge of the pandemic. 53 percent of small businesses prioritized new technologies that would let them keep working. One of those technologies is cybersecurity. When cyberattacks on large organizations and big brands often make headlines, you might imagine small businesses escape cybercriminals' attention, but that's not the case. And the damage can be costly: In 2020 the average cost of a data breach for SMBs was 101,000 US dollars. The good news? More SMB leaders are taking cybersecurity seriously and successfully reducing the impact of attacks. The same research found a rise in SMB spending on IT security budget, now averaging 275,000 US dollars a year, and improved speed of detecting attacks. 62 percent of SMBs even said cybersecurity was one of their priorities. SMBs recognize the deeper consequences of brand damage done by a major attack, and the financial value of preventing attacks and detecting them early. Why cybersecurity matters for small businesses Attacking smaller businesses can be attractive for cybercriminals because they believe big businesses are more likely to have cutting-edge security. Big business might be a lucrative target, but it's also more challenging. Most cybercriminals are opportunists – they go after easy money. Every organization has something cybercriminals want, including payment data, personal information and intellectual property. Small businesses are collecting more valuable data than ever before, so they're becoming more attractive targets. Smaller business may have no IT specialists on-site, rely on managed service providers (MSPs) or even just basic consumer tech know-how to get by. Without cybersecurity infrastructure and expertise to protect valuable data, attackers will find a way in. Perhaps SMBs are increasingly paying attention to cybersecurity in part because robust cybersecurity for small business is now more affordable. You no longer have to break the bank or divert resources from innovation to secure your business. People are the biggest factor in cybersecurity Ask any employee, "Who in the business is responsible for cybersecurity?" They'll probably say IT or management. But the most secure businesses are those that foster a culture of cybersecurity as everyone's responsibility. That's because behind a high proportion of cyberattacks is an employee making a simple mistake thanks to social engineering. Most cybercriminals don't even have much technical skill. They rely on social engineering tricks and malware bought on the dark web. The only way to stop this is to ensure your employees are aware of the cybersecurity landscape. Your accounts or HR teams needn't understand the complexities of encryption and security protocols, but you can train them to recognize social engineering threats like phishing emails and common security risks like weak passwords. Include everyone in an ongoing, interactive security awareness training program to prepare them for the risks they'll face. You'll be doing your business a favor and helping employees stay cybersafe at home too. What basic protections should SMBs have? Perimeter defense is the foundational level protection. Like the walls of a castle, it's there to keep out the bad. Today, it's about more than protecting internal networks with firewalls and antivirus software. Data systems go beyond in-house servers and workstations to mobile devices used for work and cloud-hosted resources. Hardware is becoming increasingly meaningless in small business environments, transitioning to cloud computing and managed services. As a priority, protect your online accounts and all devices – known as endpoints. Getting protected isn't as daunting as it may seem. Alongside or instead of in-house IT managers, small businesses may use managed service providers (MSPs) offering tailored security services, including managing antivirus software, installing firewalls and protecting email from malicious content. Security by layers Castles have more than just walls to protect what's inside. Many are built on hills for defensive advantage. Others have moats or ditches for another layer of defense. If an attacking army gets through the walls, troops inside provide a last line of defense. The same applies to information security: Perimeter defense is just the first barrier. A single point of failure would leave your business vulnerable. Multilayered security means making your information safer by using multiple security solutions together. For example, a firewall helps prevent malicious code from reaching your network, antivirus software protects each device connected to the network and encryption protects data in storage and when sent across the internet. These are all relatively easy and cheap to implement and are now standard with many business-grade IT systems. They help protect your business, but you also need cybersecurity training and expertise. Small business owners must take information security seriously, but that doesn't mean it should be a burden or a blocker to innovation. It adds value to your business in a time when customers consider data privacy a high priority when choosing who to do business with. By combining the right policies with cutting-edge technology, you can bring your business closer to achieving immunity from cyberthreats.
by Innovating leaders.
Innovative tech.
About Secure Futures

Secure Futures magazine is your go-to business guide for opinions, trends and insight into the world of technology and cybersecurity. We help your business to bring on the future. Brought to you by Kaspersky, the global cybersecurity experts.

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