In an exclusive conversation with Enterprise IT World, Rajesh Chhabra, General Manager, India & South Asia at Acronis, shares insights on the evolving cybersecurity landscape, the role of AI in threat detection, compliance challenges, and Acronis’ approach to supporting businesses—especially SMBs and MSPs. He speaks with Sanjay Mohapatra, Editor of Enterprise IT World, about the company’s commitment to innovation, security awareness, and the growing demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals.
How do you see cybersecurity evolving given the geopolitical challenges, inflation, and AI-driven threats from both government-backed and financially motivated attackers?
Cybersecurity is undoubtedly one of the hottest topics of discussion today. It is no longer just a concern for CISOs and CIOs but also for business owners due to its potential to disrupt operations. For small and medium-sized organizations, a cyberattack can even be a business-ending event.
Various surveys indicate that despite economic downturns, cybersecurity remains a top investment priority. Even when companies were laying off employees post-pandemic, cybersecurity budgets continued to increase. Governments are also playing a critical role by enforcing compliance standards, such as Australia’s Essential Eight and India’s DPDP Act, to ensure organizations maintain data security.
“Cybersecurity is no longer just a concern for CISOs and CIOs—it’s a business-critical issue that can make or break an organization.”
Rajesh Chhabra, General Manager, India & South Asia, Acronis
You mentioned compliance, particularly in India. Regulators like the RBI frequently impose penalties on organizations for non-compliance. How does Acronis ensure compliance with these evolving standards?
Acronis enables organizations, including financial sector businesses, to remain compliant. Internally, Acronis adheres to all relevant compliance requirements, and our CISO can provide further insights into our global measures. As a cybersecurity leader, we implement multiple layers of protection, leveraging a defense-in-depth approach.
For financial institutions, compliance revolves around data security—how data is stored, transmitted, and encrypted. Acronis ensures that all attack surfaces are minimized while integrating AI-driven threat detection mechanisms. Additionally, we employ blockchain technology to verify data integrity. By generating hash algorithms for both original and backup data and storing them on a public crypto ledger, we provide customers with a transparent method to verify the authenticity of their data restorations.
AI is playing an increasing role in cybersecurity. How is Acronis integrating AI and machine learning into its solutions?
AI is being used by both defenders and attackers, making cybersecurity more complex than ever. Traditional antivirus solutions often fail to detect modern threats like fileless attacks, advanced persistent threats, and living-off-the-land attacks. This necessitates AI-powered cybersecurity solutions.
At Acronis, we incorporate AI at multiple levels, such as:
- Behavior-Based Threat Detection – Since many attacks are zero-day threats without known signatures, we analyze process behavior rather than relying on signatures.
- Entropy Analysis – AI is used to measure randomness in files. For example, ransomware increases entropy by encrypting files, making them unreadable. By detecting abnormal entropy levels early, we can preemptively stop ransomware before it executes fully.
- Reducing False Positives – By combining entropy analysis with AI-driven contextual analysis, we ensure that legitimate activities (e.g., file compression) are not mistakenly flagged as malicious.
These AI-driven capabilities enable Acronis to provide real-time threat detection while minimizing disruptions to users.
Can you share a recent example of Acronis preventing a ransomware attack?
Certainly. Acronis recently conducted a malware scan on customer backup archives stored in the Acronis Cloud. Many customers only use our backup solutions and not our security suite, which means they might be unaware of hidden threats within their archives.
During our scans, we detected malware traces in several backup archives and proactively notified the affected customers. This allowed them to take corrective action before restoring compromised data. Acronis is unique in offering both security and data recovery, unlike other companies that specialize in only one aspect.
Acronis offers an integrated cybersecurity platform, and MSPs play a key role in delivering these solutions. How do you ensure that security does not compromise system performance and user experience?
That’s a valid concern. Security should protect businesses without affecting productivity. Before investing in complex cybersecurity solutions, organizations must prioritize employee awareness and training.
Studies show that over 94% of cyberattacks originate from email-based phishing scams. Employees remain the weakest link in cybersecurity, so training them to recognize phishing attempts is critical. Simple precautions, like verifying URLs and senders, can prevent major breaches. Acronis offers Security Awareness Training to help organizations and MSPs educate their employees effectively.
Is it the vendor’s responsibility to drive security awareness across customers and partners?
Absolutely. Cybersecurity is a collective responsibility. With remote work and cloud-based workloads, organizations are more exposed than ever. Employees often connect to corporate networks from unsecured home routers, public Wi-Fi, and personal devices, increasing the attack surface.
Acronis is committed to raising awareness through focused educational initiatives. We conduct workshops, share insights on the latest ransomware trends, and provide real-world case studies. Additionally, our Security Awareness Training solution helps businesses and MSPs educate employees cost-effectively.
Budget constraints often limit a company’s ability to implement robust security training. How is Acronis addressing this challenge?
Budget limitations should not be an obstacle to cybersecurity. Acronis provides an affordable, user-based pricing model for our Security Awareness Training. This makes it accessible to businesses of all sizes. Our goal is to ensure that companies can strengthen their security posture without financial strain. By investing in security awareness, businesses can prevent costly breaches and protect their data proactively.
Do you believe more effort is required in developing cybersecurity professionals? How do you see this trend evolving?
This is an ongoing effort, and I’m encouraged to see many young students and professionals choosing cybersecurity as a career. They are investing time in learning and upskilling themselves, which is great. However, more needs to be done. Educational institutions and the government should open more avenues for cybersecurity training. There is a global demand for cybersecurity professionals, but at the same time, we see a shortage in meeting this demand, making cybersecurity professionals highly sought after.
At Acronis, we are also working towards simplifying cybersecurity solutions so that even professionals with limited experience can operate them effectively. AI plays a crucial role here. Our Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solution, for example, uses AI to generate playbooks in easy-to-understand English, making it accessible for professionals with just a year or two of experience.
To illustrate, if an organization wants to create a script to block a ransomware attack, they can simply input that request in English, and AI will generate the script for them. This approach ensures that organizations can efficiently manage cybersecurity, even with limited expertise.
You were previously handling Asia Pacific, Japan, and the Middle East, but now you’re focused on India and South Asia. How do you see these markets responding to Acronis’ strategy? What is your go-to-market approach?
That’s correct. India is one of the fastest-growing markets for Acronis globally, and my focus is on expanding our presence here. Acronis follows a channel-led approach. Our solutions are designed with Managed Service Providers (MSPs) in mind, incorporating multi-tiering, multi-tenancy, white labeling, and administrative controls.
While our strategy is partner-driven, we also engage directly with end customers through CSO and CIO-level initiatives to create awareness. However, our core approach remains partner-centric.
Given that Acronis supports both MSP-led and Systems Integrator (SI)-led strategies, where does the emphasis lie?
We have observed a global trend towards cloud adoption and outsourcing IT operations to MSPs. While the US and Europe are more mature in this aspect, regions like India are still evolving. In India, a hybrid model—leveraging both MSPs and SIs—works well.
Currently, a significant portion of our revenue in India comes from the MSP channel, but we remain committed to the SI model as well. Organizations that prefer managing their IT infrastructure internally can purchase licensing through our SI partners.
With cloud adoption growing, some industries, like banking and defense, still rely on on-premises solutions. How does Acronis cater to such needs?
Acronis provides both cloud-based and on-premises solutions. We understand that industries such as government, defense, healthcare, and banking require on-premises deployments due to regulatory compliance. Our solutions support hybrid models where workloads can be split between cloud and on-prem environments.
Acronis is also a leader in Operational Technology (OT) security, providing air-gapped, on-premises solutions for critical infrastructure sectors.
Let’s talk about Acronis’ product roadmap, particularly for MSPs. What innovations can we expect?
Rajesh Chhabra: Our roadmap is built around integration and automation. We are heavily focused on expanding integrations across professional services automation and network monitoring. Key developments include:
- EDR for Linux (launching in 2025)
- Email Archiving for regulatory compliance
- Disaster Recovery for Azure
- XDR 2.0 enhancements
- Microsoft 365 Management and Monitoring
- Workflow automation for EDR and XDR
Acronis also integrates backup with security operations, enabling automated patch rollbacks if needed, which is a unique value proposition.
I read about Acronis’ ‘Patch Tuesday’ strategy. Can you elaborate on that?
Patch management is a critical challenge for IT admins. Acronis offers automated patch management with integrations across 330+ vendors, including Microsoft, Apple, and Adobe. Admins can automate patch deployment from our console without manually downloading updates. Moreover, our solution integrates with backup to enable rollback in case of issues, ensuring business continuity.
SMBs are a major segment in India. What is Acronis doing for them?
SMBs are our sweet spot. We provide cutting-edge security solutions that are simple to use and budget-friendly. Our EDR solution, for example, uses AI to simplify operations, making it accessible to SMBs. We also have India-specific pricing to ensure affordability.
Finally, what investments is Acronis making in India to develop the market?
India is a key market for us, and we are investing heavily in multiple areas:
- Expanding our India entity with local employees across sales, support, pre-sales, marketing, and R&D.
- Growing our partner ecosystem with marketing development funds for MSPs.
- Data center investment in Mumbai, with flexibility for future expansions.
- Participating in industry events and distributor summits to drive awareness.