Cybersecure Gathering
The new face of security
A young startup from the IIT Alumni incubator invited me to visit their state of the art SoC prior to commercial launch on August 15. The startup called Ferguson TRMC Morris (FTM) aspires to be the worlds largest cybersecurity provider to countries, companies, campuses and conventions. Why would a convention need cyber security ? To explain their model, they invited me to visit a typical “convention” being held by an “individual”IITian.
At 3 pm sharp, I was escorted by a convoy of vehicles to gate no.3 of Talkatora Gardens in Lutyens Delhi. There were over 100 machine gun clad security men in commando uniform. Cameras of all shapes and kinds were clicking anything that moved. As a set of armed guards escorted me towards the sitting area, two drones tracked every step I took. Just ahead of me, I could identify cricketer Virendra Sehwag and many ministers whose names I could not place. When I entered the hall, it had thousands of people already seated.
Suddenly the crowd broke into a synchronised unified frenzy, the kind I saw at Howdy Modi in 2019 in Houston and more recently at the dawn breaking aarti at the Mahakal temple at Ujjain on Maha Shivratri day on the last day of the Mahakumbh which comes once in hundred plus years. Howdy Modi had two heads of states and 54,000 people in the audience. Mahashivratri had 500,000 people in and outside the jyotiling. But this was far more energetic. The event was being beamed live to a million plus devotees to celebrate guru Purnima. And this needed cybersecurity just like the event needed physical security.
The frenzy got stronger as Siddheshwar Brahmshi Gurudev Maharaj entered the hall. I had once heard of Guruji from late minister Ajit Singh (Chaudhary Charan Singhs son) and Gurujis senior at IIT Kgp.
Guruji was born in Delhi in 1941 and has an atypical educational background for a guru—that includes a B. Tech degree from IIT Kharagpur, PhD in Astrology, and M.A. in Sanskrit, Vedas and Jyotish. He has served as Principal and Professor at various universities and colleges including the prestigious Banaras Hindu University.
There were around 40 cameras including four drone cameras beaming live signals. What if there was a man in the middle attack ? What if the drone camera were to be hacked and used as an attack weapon. What if the drone hid a cyanide shot in its flashgun. Cybersecurity is way more important than physical security.
Cybersecurity needs to be everywhere. At least one of the ten most valuable companies on both NYSE and NSE will be a cybersecurity company. And that company is not going to be a TCS or an Accenture.
It is going to be some startup like FTM who no one has heard of today. FTM is already the largest cybersecurity auditor in India for the BFSI sector – larger than BSE and NSE backed Blue Sapphire and Aujus Networks. Or Deloitte and BDO combined.
But for conventions – they are the only player globally.