PwC Sri Lanka allies with Exporters Association of Sri Lanka as Cybersecurity Partner

As companies pivot more toward digital business models, exponentially more data is generated and shared among organisations, partners, and customers. This digital information has become the lifeblood of the interconnected business ecosystem and is increasingly valuable to organisations—and skilled threat actors. Increasing digitisation also means companies are exposed to new digital vulnerabilities, making an effective approach to cybersecurity and privacy more important than ever.

Based on PwC’s 2021 Global Digital Trust Insights, it is found that 96% of executives have shifted their cybersecurity strategy due to COVID-19 and 40% of executives say they are accelerating digitisation.

PwC Sri Lanka Technology Consulting Leader Nishan Mendis stated, “From a Sri Lankan point of view, there had been several cyber-attacks recently, targeting companies who are involved in the export trade in Sri Lanka, to divert foreign currency payments to hacker accounts by generating emails impersonating the supplier company. Hence, many organisations including Small Medium Enterprises in Sri Lanka are at very high risk when it comes to potential cyber-attacks and needs expert support in mitigating the same.”

Nishan further stated, “With this in mind, PwC Sri Lanka has committed to supporting local businesses and communities, especially during these turbulent times.”

Considering this increased risk to local companies, PwC Sri Lanka’s Cybersecurity and Privacy practice has designed a webinar series in collaboration with the Exporters Association of Sri Lanka (EASL). Vengadasalam Balagobi, Practice Head of PwC Sri Lanka Cybersecurity and Privacy practice stated, “We will extend our support being the Cybersecurity Partner for the Exporters Association of Sri Lanka and its member companies in ensuring their cyber safety and protection, and also educate them on the implications of Data Privacy Regulations such as GDPR which affects our exporters.”

Chrisso de Mel, Chairman of Exporters Association of Sri Lanka (EASL), the apex body of exporters in Sri Lanka stated, “Collaborating with PwC Sri Lanka and connecting to the wealth of international experience and knowledge that is potentially available with them is a blessing to all our members and the Sri Lankan trade at large. We are delighted to partner with PwC Sri Lanka and engage with them in this great initiative which is going to swell the confidence of all exporters who have been rushed to make drastic process changes in recent times, to comply and be abreast with the new normalcy and practices in international trade. 

He further added, “Several compromises that may have been made by exporters during this pandemic time, to meet the demands of trade; the last thing we want to see happen is for them to become victims of cybercrimes, either due to the lack of knowledge or the lack of awareness. Hence this initiative addresses that situation and we are pleased about it. I certainly hope many companies will avail themselves of this program as there will be no restriction in the number of participants.”

Commenting on the future plans of PwC Sri Lanka’s cybersecurity practice Nishan stated, “We will continue to invest in our cybersecurity and privacy services and talent, becoming a trusted advisor to boards, C-suite executives, and stakeholders. Our goals remain to help businesses protect their digital transformation initiatives, develop organisational resilience, and extract risk and business value from data.”

Vengadasalam Balagobi further added, “As a global leader in cybersecurity, PwC has access to a library of advanced tools and technologies from leading strategic business partners to use cybersecurity and privacy as a tool to securely transform businesses.”