“The enterprise cybersecurity landscape is experiencing a paradigm shift with AI-powered security solutions,” says Satyamohan Yanambaka, the CEO of Writer Information.
With 25 + years of leadership experience in multinational corporations such as HCL Technologies, Oracle, State Bank of India and Mahindra Satyam, Satyamohan Yanambaka is responsible for executing the business strategy and directing the overall performance and growth of the organization.
In an exclusive conversation with CIO&Leader, Yanambaka talks about how the world of Cybersecurity is changing with the integration of AI, and which tech trends he is most excited about in the upcoming year.
CEO,
Writer Information
CIO&Leader: Global cybersecurity spending is projected to reach $219 billion in 2024, with a significant focus on AI-powered security solutions. What fundamental shifts are you seeing in how enterprises approach security architecture?
Satyamohan Yanambaka: The enterprise cybersecurity landscape is experiencing a paradigm shift with AI-powered security solutions. Traditional cybersecurity analysis relies heavily on human monitoring and can come with operational challenges. Security teams frequently encounter alert fatigue, which has emerged as a fundamental source of human error in monitoring and response protocols. In this context, artificial intelligence brings unique capabilities to cybersecurity operations. Its most valuable contribution lies in its capacity to analyse vast quantities of security data with unprecedented speed and accuracy, particularly in the critical domain of anomaly detection.
CIO&Leader: Recent data shows that 82% of enterprises faced challenges implementing zero-trust architecture in hybrid environments. How are you approaching this transition within your own organisation, and what lessons could benefit other technology leaders?
Satyamohan Yanambaka: Zero trust architecture embodies a crucial security principle: “never trust, always verify.” This architectural framework enforces sophisticated access policies evaluating multiple contextual parameters. These essential parameters encompass the user’s organisational role, physical or network location, device characteristics, and established access behaviour patterns.
The successful implementation of zero trust architecture demands comprehensive environmental oversight, including robust capabilities to monitor and control encrypted network traffic. Cybersecurity has always been paramount to us and earlier this year, Writer Information partnered with Seceon Inc, to enhance cybersecurity offerings. This collaboration aims to address the evolving needs of businesses by offering advanced cyber threat protection, detection, and response capabilities.
CIO&Leader: With AI-powered attacks increasing by 87% in 2023, how are you leveraging artificial intelligence for threat detection and response in your infrastructure? What practical limitations or challenges should CIOs be aware of?
Satyamohan Yanambaka: Integrating artificial intelligence into security operations has fundamentally enhanced threat detection capabilities. AI systems can efficiently process and analyse security data at scales that surpass human analytical capabilities, enabling swift automated responses to emerging threats. These systems strengthen threat-hunting operations through advanced predictive analytics by uncovering meaningful patterns and trends within security data.
However, the challenge lies in the ongoing refinement of threat assessments, where security teams must dedicate substantial effort to distinguish between genuine threats and benign activities, working continuously to minimise false positives.
CIO&Leader: Gartner predicts that by 2025, 75% of enterprise-generated data will be created and processed outside a traditional centralised data centre. How are you preparing your organisation’s security architecture for this edge-computing reality?
Satyamohan Yanambaka: The evolution towards edge computing requires a robust security architecture that addresses the decentralised nature of modern data processing. This comprehensive security framework encompasses several vital components:
Identity and Access Management Framework:
o Implementation of Zero Trust principles requiring thorough authentication
o Granular permission assignments based on specific roles
o Deployment of multi-factor authentication systems
Essential Security Controls:
o Strategic network segmentation with logical isolation measures
o Comprehensive encryption for data at rest and in transit
o Advanced EDR/XDR deployment for threat monitoring
o Cloud-based security management systems
o Automated incident response capabilities
o Systematic policy enforcement protocols
CIO&Leader: The cybersecurity skills gap continues to widen, with over 3.4 million unfilled positions globally. How are you addressing this challenge within your organisation, particularly in emerging areas like cloud-native security and DevSecOps?
Satyamohan Yanambaka: Organisations are now actively addressing the cybersecurity skills shortage through comprehensive talent development strategies. These initiatives encompass structured upskilling programmes, professional certification support, and thorough practical training, both internal and external. The talent acquisition approach focuses on broadening recruitment channels, with particular emphasis on engaging professionals from adjacent technical domains such as cloud architecture, network engineering, and database administration. Strategic partnerships with government entities support broader initiatives to establish cybersecurity as a prestigious career pathway.
CIO&Leader: With regulations like GDPR and the DPDP Act shaping data protection requirements, how do you see the balance between innovation and compliance evolving? What strategies are proving effective in your experience?
Satyamohan Yanambaka: The intersection of regulatory compliance and innovation demands thoughtful consideration in today’s digital landscape. Incorporating compliance measures during initial development minimises organisational risk exposure and eliminates costly retrospective modifications. Establishing a compliance-oriented culture, self-governing mechanisms, combined with ethical innovation practices, creates a foundation for sustainable organisational growth. Essential implementation strategies encompass privacy by design methodologies, robust data anonymisation and encryption protocols, and systematic data minimisation practices.
CIO&Leader: How are you implementing emerging technologies like AI in the company?
Satyamohan Yanambaka: Emerging technology has already evolved as a business driver more than enabler and WI is taking full advantage of the it to refine its offerings. A couple of years ago, we saw that the use of RPA was rampant, however, now Python based algorithms are being embedded in workflows to make the processes seamless and intelligent. Writer Information’s software portfolio including BPaaS platforms, have completely been integrated with AI and the intelligence quotient of these applications have vastly improved. In regard to our Infrastructure offerings, we are enabling our customers to deploy their AI based applications.
CIO&Leader: Which technological trends are you looking forward to in 2025?
Satyamohan Yanambaka: The top trends for next few years anchor around Governance models to manage risks posed by AI and dis-information campaigns. The widespread use of AI exposes enterprises to a new set of risks and how we help them to manage, mitigate and preempt these risks, gives a big opportunity in AI GRC domain. Further as WI exists in both the Physical and Digital world, we will look at how to enhance the customer experience by designing a seamless inter-play between them using technologies like augmented. Further, virtual reality is another area where we are betting big. Hybrid computing will be another trend which is a given, knowing the compute needs for running AI applications and we are gearing up our infra offerings to match up to these needs.
