Staying Protected from Cybersecurity Risks

11/02/2022 | Completed Event

Mr. Vineet Verma, Managing Director-WTC Bengaluru moderated a panel conversation titled ''Staying Protected from Cybersecurity Risks''. The panelists included Mr. Ray Zhou, VP-APAC Information Security, Marriott International and Mr. Lahiru Weerasinghe, Director-Information Security Partnership, APAC-Marriott International who spoke on the general trends and the best practices pertaining to cyber security.

Mr. Verma initiated the discussion and remarked that the pandemic has provided us with many learnings. Digitization has transformed the hospitality industry and therefore it is important to learn how to secure data and stay protected in the current times.The entire concept of hospitality is revolving around customers and deals with a great deal of personal information of millions of travelers every day. That certainly explains why cybersecurity is one of the big issues for the hospitality sector.

Mr. Zhou in his presentation said cyber security, once a technology centric issue, is now categorized as a multi-faceted business risk. Human error and malicious insider threats are common drivers of cyber risk. Global shortage of cyber talent results in difficulty in fulfilling cyber security roles. This could lead to loss of institutional knowledge. Reliance on vendors and third parties are unavoidable and therefore hotels need to take necessary steps to reduce these risks.He categorized the threats as -state sponsored, financially motivated, malicious insider and ideologically motivated. Mr.Zhou also presented the cyber security frameworks and standards practiced across the globe.

Mr. Weerasinghe spoke about social engineering and the attack scenarios faced by the industry mainly Phishing, Vishing, Impersonation etc. He illustrated these with live case studies to help participants understand the various scenarios.Data protection and privacy laws were also highlighted during his talk.The panel also took questions from the audience.

This virtual session was organized by the Tourism, Hospitality and Facility Expert Committee of the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce(BCIC). 

Mr. Verma is presently the Chairman of this committee.