The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), one of the major Indian stock exchanges, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with John Chambers-backed software security firm Lucideus to ward off potential cyber threats and secure Stock Brokers ’ interests as per the regulatory guidelines.
According to BSE’s notification, Lucideus will build and provide a Cyber Security Operations Center (SOC) as a service using Lucideus’ artificial intelligence and machine learning-backed Security Assessment Framework for Enterprises (SAFE) solution.
The Indian securities market regulator SEBI has updated its security-standard last month mandating the market infrastructure institutions to establish a round-the-clock cybersecurity operation center under dedicated security analysts to identify, respond, and prevent potential cyber attacks.
“SAFE will be able to provide the entire broker community a single-click subscription option, where they can opt into the solution that will be offered via Marketplace Tech Infra Services,” the notification noted. “It will provide an on-premise SAFE-in-a-box solution synced with Lucideus SAFE solution hosted at the BSE Data Centres to provide real-time monitoring of all parameters covered in the guideline. The on-premise box solution will host open-source tools along with the SAFE software that will aggregate insights from each terminal and sense the network security controls to send them along with the sys-logs to SAFE to be processed in real-time.”
Commenting on the development, S. Ravi, BSE’s chairman, said: “With an evolving array of potential cyber-attacks, it has become essential to have robust cybersecurity in place and safeguard the interests of our stock brokers. Even a minor cybersecurity breach could have massive economic and financial consequences."
“By associating with Lucideus, the leader in cybersecurity services and solutions, we aim to strengthen the cybersecurity framework, tackle all the challenges pertaining to capital markets ecosystem and adhere to SEBI’s guidelines to protect the integrity of data and guard against breaches of privacy.”
Tackling Cyber Threats
Lucideus is backed by JC2 Ventures, the venture capital firm of the former Cisco executive John Chambers. Last year, the cybersecurity firm raised $5 million from JC2 Ventures after raising an undisclosed amount from a group of angel investors in the country.
“As the fastest stock exchange in the world, BSE is a global benchmark for companies today. BSE has always been in the forefront of enabling cutting-edge technology solutions, and Lucideus has been a game-changer in the cybersecurity industry since its inception,” said Chambers.
“This will be a true win-win partnership for not only BSE and Lucideus but also for the entire broker community and their customers. Together, BSE and Lucideus will ensure the safety and security of data, in line with the global best practices that the SEBI framework covers.”
