InfoWatch: Delivering a new approach to unified data loss prevention solutions

In the modern world, a product must be readily available and meet the changing market demands of different countries in order to be truly successful and commercially appealing. This is associated with the development of user ecosystems and secondary services based on them, and consumption at the global level. The Russian IT market accounts for less than 1 percent of the world market. So, the domestic market is not enough and the opportunities that lie in the global market are far larger than the internal market. InfoWatch, a company based in Russia, realized this and started operations on the international market in 2011. It was the first Russian company to present Data Loss Prevention solutions to the domestic market and to develop a real-time social media monitoring solution. The company now provides complete protection of corporate data supporting the control of web services, retrieval of information on servers and workstations.

In 1997, Natalya launched the Kaspersky Lab foundation and turned it into a leading antivirus corporation. During 2001, the anti-spam technology was bought and the idea of a new product emerged. Natalya Kaspersky says, “We thought if our product can filter incoming spam, why not filter outgoing information?” DLP (Data Loss Prevention) was a new market then, so the programmers at Kaspersky Lab developed a prototype to protect firms against internal data breaches without any clear understanding of the market. The prototype was a success, and in December 2003, Kaspersky Lab established a new company as its subsidiary, InfoWatch. Since 2007, InfoWatch is a completely independent organization and is associated with brands as Kribrum, Attack Killer, EgoSecure, Appercut, and Cezurity.

Aerial view of the company

The company is a full-cycle production company which provides 24/7 support and implementation services to its customers. So, feedbacks are carefully monitored and used to enhance products and solutions. InfoWatch’s technical support is in compliance with the global COPC Inc. Standards with 93% rate of customer satisfaction level in 2016. Currently, InfoWatch products are already being represented in the markets of Western Europe, the Middle East, India and South-East Asia. The company’s current international clients include the Central Bank of Bahrain, the First Energy Bank of Bahrain, Gateway Rail (India), Petrochem (UAE), and the Ministry of Education of Greece. The company has evolved from a small Kaspersky Lab project to a global company with a multimillion-dollar turnover, and the projects for the DLP solution InfoWatch Traffic Monitor implementation has also been growing since its market launch over the past five years. InfoWatch has been developing systems to protect enterprises against internal and external information security threats for more than 12 years. It now leads the markets by holding almost a 50% share of Russian DLP systems. The company has accumulated unique competencies and technological base for the development of modern solutions in the information security field. To deal with the attacks on information systems that have become complex, it has adopted complex approaches to protect confidential information. It is now expanding its expertise in the wider perimeter including social networks, messengers and BYOD and is moving towards predictive analysis as well. 

The InfoWatch way!

Building a long-term partnership strategy has always been the top priority of InfoWatch. After the DLP system installation, it builds and optimizes the cyber security processes in the customer’s organizations, structures the information in the systems from the point of view of its protection. Firstly, the InfoWatch specialists conduct a full audit of the systems and data vulnerabilities of the organization and then, they build an individualized model of threats for each specific customer in accordance with its risks. This allows customers to get an insight into the comprehensive protection against data leaks and internal threats to business, and to assess the risks and level of protection of the organization. Today, the company’s product portfolio includes InfoWatch Traffic Monitor and InfoWatch EndPoint Security solutions to minimize the risks associated with the transmission of information, as well as a set of services and solutions to protect the process control system. The InfoWatch Kribrum maintains the clients’ reputation on the internet by providing a cloud-based social media monitoring service. And protection from external targeted attacks is served by InfoWatch Attack Killer and InfoWatch Appercut products. InfoWatch group has gained vast experience in implementing large-scale projects in industry, fuel and energy complex, ICT, financial and public sector.

It wasn’t easy after all!

In its initial years, InfoWatch was in a bad shape and experienced huge losses with the product. The customers weren’t able to figure out the need of such a product in their organization. Thus, creating demand for the product came off as a massive challenge for Natalya Kaspersky. She set out to create a brand-new market in Russia by establishing a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Association and holding relevant conferences, also a magazine, and a DLP devoted website. The 2009 economic crisis led customers to cut expenses on new and unknown IT solutions, thus dropping Infowatch’s revenue by 60% and exposing the company to R&D difficulties. It was unclear if the company could persist. But Natalya continued her tenacious efforts in the hard times and with the help of her earnings from the sale of her shares in the Kaspersky lab, InfoWatch turned into a healthy profitable organization. 

Let’s meet the visionary leader who made it happen: CEO Natalya Kaspersky

Natalya was born in 1966 in Moscow. She graduated from the Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering with a degree in Applied Mathematics. She co-founded Kaspersky Lab and under her charge, the company evolved to become the well-known leader of the international IT market. In 2007, Natalya took the lead of InfoWatch, and the company which was unprofitable once, turned into a market leader in providing DLP systems. Natalya holds multiple awards in International Business and IT, and is one of the most influential figures in the Russian IT industry.

“Stay stubborn and believe in your luck. It comes to those who believe in the goal and stay persistent!”