Can Akita Security Device Help you Protect your Security During COVID-19 [Interview]

Akita, an IoT security device, designed to protect the privacy and network security. Today, I am in discussion with Zakir Hussain, Director, BD Soft India (Akita’s distribution partner), to understand what is Akita security device, how it works, its capability, network infrastructure, support etc.

First, Can you brief what Akita Security Device is?

Zakir Hussain: Akita is an IoT security device, a watchdog station that detects suspicious activity in your smart home devices network and prevents IoT-oriented attacks. Akita acts like a patrolling device that keeps all your IoT devices safe and encrypted. Akita was founded in November 2016 in response to the massive Denial of Service Attack (DDoS) of Dyn, which rendered thousands of their websites as inaccessible. Headquartered in the Hefer region of Israel, today, Akita has emerged as one of the best tools to make smart homes safer. At present, Akita. Cloud is revolutionizing the domain of ‘smart home security as a service’ through its ‘impenetrable’ technology.

How is Akita security device capable of protecting your privacy and security?

Zakir Hussain: Akita takes the utmost care of the privacy of the devices and the homes it is installed in. We actively test against hacks on the Akita device. For this purpose, it has hired one of the strongest Israel-based cyber companies (CyberInt), which has been using a team of ‘white’ hackers to try and hack the device for three months. With encryptions across the entire system, Akita can assure complete safety and privacy of the data it receives in the device. The architecture of Akita is designed in such a way that even the company cannot access it. This kind of privacy will actually benefit the area where it is installed.

How do Akita work? Can you describe its network infrastructure?

Zakir Hussain: Akita follows a very stringent network infrastructure and working pattern, which doesn’t even risk the security of the IoT devices. Akita uses a custom form of WiFi sniffing to detect questionable packets and sends them to our servers to be analyzed. This is why the hardware can run on low memory/CPU because it’s mainly a cloud-based system. If the packets are determined to be malicious, a command is sent from our servers back to the Akita device. This includes custom protocol commands to disconnect the device from the network router.

Hackers are becoming smart and sophisticated; what is your commitment to the Akita’s security device users?

Zakir Hussain: India right now is moving very swiftly towards ‘Digital India’, but the backend is very weak, highly vulnerable to threats, and risky in terms of security. For instance, households owning a WiFi connection, often fail to keep it password-protected or SMEs keep Data protection as the least priority, which undoubtedly increases data encryption and security threats. Against the same, Akita is actively testing against hacks on the Akita device. It has hired one of the strongest Israel-based cyber companies (CyberInt), which has been using a team of ‘white’ hackers to try and hack the device for 3 months. So if there are any vulnerabilities, they are found and reported to R&D and fixed via firmware updates.

Who are the Akita’s experts to handle client questions and issues?

Zakir Hussain: Akita has teamed up with prominent experts, comprising of professionals from the Israeli Defence Force’s Cyber Intelligence Unit, veteran developers and Uber alumnus among a few, to help helps users manage the setup, configuration, and security of their Smart Home devices, networks, and assist and answer any general tech question. They simplify the entire process of managing Akita while ensuring that the users enjoy the full benefits of it.

How are you going to market Akita in India?

Zakir Hussain: The current issue that India is facing is a lack of awareness about the need for securing their smart devices and IoT devices. For instance, home WiFi are highly vulnerable to external threats, thereby hampering security. Akita, through aggressive marketing campaigns, will create awareness about the need for securing your smart devices on a household level. The marketing campaigns include expanding the digital marketing presence and creating knowledge platforms for the audience and potential partners alike. Additionally, Akita shall be expanding its network base, by partnering with more companies and distributors, all to expand Akita’s business across the country.

What data does the Akita security device store? Who can access the Akita cloud account?

Zakir Hussain: One advantage of Akita is that it doesn’t use Deep Packet Inspection, which means even Akita company doesn’t have access to your private information. Most competing devices use Deep Packet Inspection to keep tabs on the data flowing through your tubes. The data is fully encrypted in such a structure that it ensures complete safety and privacy of your data, even when stored on cloud-based storage.

Security is for most concern for IoT users, Will Akita help users minimize risks?

Zakir Hussain: IoT Security is a concern because people are gradually moving to smart devices, whether they are Smart Phones to Smart Homes. And a major risk here is that people are ignorant about safeguarding their devices, thereby threatening their security. For instance, the usage of WiFi is extremely high in India, but people miss out on protecting it with passwords, which paves the way to many malicious activities. Akita helps safeguard these devices, by creating a third layer of protection, so that no suspicious activities or intrusions occur in any of the IoT devices. Akita does so, by using the high-level Intrusion Prevention system (or IPS) to keep away any and every type of intrusion. 

 Are you planning any such device for business segments?

Zakir Hussain: Although the Akita IoT security device has been launched, keeping home security and home devices in the plan, it is considering the option of expanding in the business segment as well. Security devices like Akita have a huge potential to expand in the business segment, where the risk of security is high. Seeing the speed at which the IoT industry is developing, we are sure that businesses would also need to be secured, and Akita cloud cybersecurity technology can help secure such environments. For instance, Insurance companies that provide insurance for smart homes and personal data can also use Akita technology to cut down on cyber risk. 

• Also Read: Cybersecurity While Working From Home Amid Coronavirus Outbreak