The 12th Edition of EIITF delved deep into the future of AI-Driven technology

VARINDIA hosted the 12th edition of the Eastern India Information Technology Fair (EIITF) on 15th September, 2023 at Hyatt Regency, Kolkata bringing together technology leaders from the corporate world, Value-Added Resellers (VARs), and various stakeholders from Eastern India to delve into the future of AI-driven technology and the latest trends and technologies in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. 

The evening commenced with a warm welcome from the host, emphasizing the importance of staying ahead in a rapidly transforming business landscape. The Eastern India Information Technology Fair has been a longstanding platform that connects businesses with the latest technologies, facilitating informed decisions. This year's event was designed to address critical topics such as the future of digital business, optimizing technology investments, and future-proofing businesses. 

The event's theme, "Securing Network and Data Security in the AI-Driven World," resonated with the current technological landscape, highlighting the potential of AI for both positive and negative outcomes. Distinguished speakers and experts shared insights, ensuring attendees left with valuable takeaways.

The presence of CIOs/CTOs, members of the IT Association (COMPASS), and esteemed panelists from various corporate added a significant value to the event. Networking sessions provided opportunities for industry professionals to exchange experiences and insights. 

The evening witnessed presence of eminent dignitaries, including: Mr. Hari Kishore Kusumakar, IPS- ADG & IGP Cybercrime West Bengal and CISO West Bengal, Prof. Amlan Chakrabarti, Head IT & Technology Innovation Cell, University of Calcutta; Mr. Manjit Nayak, Director-STPI; Mr. Rajesh Saboo, MD- Saboo Electronics and Past President- COMPASS; Mr. K L Lalani, Chairman- Lalani Group of Companies; Mr. Dattatray Katkar, Director Alliance- Allied Telesis; Mr. Someswar Chakraborty, G.M- CP Plus; Mr. Kripadyuti Sarkar, Group CIO-Ambuja Neotia; Mr. Sourav Das, Group Chief of Digital & IT- Rupa & Co; Ms. Minal Bhagat, Co-founder -Ensonic Computech; Mr. Sanjeev Sinha, President -IT & Digitization-India Power Corporation; Ms. Sanghamitra Pyne, Head IT Generation- CESC Ventures and many more. 

The 12th edition of the Eastern India Information Technology Fair was a resounding success, fostering knowledge-sharing, networking, and discussions around crucial ICT trends. The VARINDIA family expresses its heartfelt gratitude to all attendees, speakers, sponsors, and partners for making this event a memorable and enriching experience.

SPEAKERS:

Manjit Kumar Nayak, Director-STPI 

It is really pleasure to be part of the event today. Since couple of years the event is happening in Kolkata. The AI driven solutions are affecting all aspect of human life, day by day life. AI implementation is going on and we all witnessing the development into the sectors. Technology has become the critical infrastructure for today’s businessman; it has a highly profound role in driving optimization efficiency across all sectors.

Prof. Amlan Chakrabarti, Head IT & Technology Innovation Cell, University of Calcutta 

We are at an age where we can pick up the data from the devices like smart watches, smart phones, smart buildings, smart agriculture and smart home. To use the data, we have to push the data to some infrastructure, and need the processing resources to match the data and generate quite good insights. The industry is driven by the analytics. Everywhere we try to take a decision is not our perception, it’s a more data driven decision.

Hari Kishore Kusumakar, IPS- ADG & IGP Cyber Crime, West Bengal  

80% of you might have got some messages for some lottery payment, and a lot of people actually falling for it. In fact, if you ask me bank fraud is a traditional crime; it is not actually very high-tech crime. That is why under educated people of Jamtara are able to commit so much crime. Now people can send 1000s of messages in one click and then at least 10 people will fall for it and that made his day. All is needed fake IDs and SIMs. AI is being used for changing the faces for KYC purpose and then getting SIM.

Rajesh Saboo, MD- Saboo Electronics and Past President- COMPASS 

Being in the IT industry for last 34 years and upgrade yourself is itself a challenge. After Covid, daily you are facing some challenges sometimes it’s online or sometimes its large format retails. We need to change ourselves and we need to get upgraded all the time and change accordingly. If we don't change, things are going to get in a different way.

Sachin Desai, SE Manager, Allied Telesis (India & SAARC) 

We are 36 years old Japanese company started in 1987. We have got to two factories completely owned and managed by Japanese staff one in China and one in Singapore. We are purely network OEM and we have no product gaps to offer you end-to-end networking solutions starting from core switches, industrial grade switches, modules, Nic cards, media converters, wireless SD van devices, IPS devices, and finally, AI ML led STM controller.

Someswar Chakraborty, G.M- CP Plus 

Our mission is to reach every home every state and every city of the nation. We provide a comprehensive integrated surveillance solution for critical infrastructure, customization as per the current security test and upcoming security threats and to reduce response time using combination of products and sensors.

Dr. Deepak Sahu, Editor-in-chief, VARINDIA 

Talking about today’s topic Securing Network and Data Security in the AI-Driven World, Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming a part of our everyday lives. It is used in a wide range of applications, from facial recognition to self-driving cars. As AI becomes more pervasive, it is also becoming more important to secure network and data security.  

Brain Storming Session on a case study: How to Secure Network and Data Security in the AI-Driven World

Moderated by Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, Chief Editor-VARINDIA, the panel discussion session witnessed insightful messages from Sourav Das, Group Chief of Digital & IT- Rupa & Co; Kripadyuti Sarkar, Group CIO-Ambuja Neotia; Sanjeev Sinha, President -IT & Digitization-India Power Corporation; Minal Bhagat, Co-founder -Ensonic Computech and Siddharth Sinhal, Cimcon Digital. 

Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, Chief Editor-VARINDIA 

“Cybersecurity is more important than ever before, as government and enterprises are increasingly reliant on digital technologies. The increasing sophistication of cyber threats, the growing number of connected devices and the expanding attack surface contribute to the challenge of cyber world. Securing network and data security in the AI-driven world is a complex and challenging task. AI-powered applications and systems are increasingly being used in all aspect of our lives from healthcare to finance to transportation. This increase reliance and AI has led to an increasing risk of cyber-attacks.”   

Sanjeev Sinha, President -IT & Digitization-India Power Corporation  

“While the risk in the digital world is getting higher and is becoming innovative in nature because of the intensity, the protection has to be one step ahead of it.  When you have a security solution powered by AI, it is a very good way of protecting yourself, because it can foresee and predict some of the malicious things from which you can get protected. But at the same time, it has to be ahead of the risks. So, while risks will become more and more innovative, you will also have to devise more innovative ways to protect yourself.” 

Minal Bhagat, Co-founder - Ensonic Computech  

“Since I come from the education background, what I have observed is when you talk about AI in education, the National Education Policy (NEP) shares that more and more people need to get skilled in artificial intelligence. In order to counter the challenge that everyone is encountering is to educate the teachers first. The newly introduced NEP ideally talks about enabling the teachers first. If we can teach the teachers initially, I am sure the filtration down will be much faster. So that will be one of the bigger solutions I would look at rather than the challenge itself.”   

Siddharth Sinhal, Associate Vice President, Cimcon Digital  

“Every data is getting transferred on the cloud. In my company, I transfer 20 millions of data in every ten seconds. I work with a lot of industries and they are all very concerned when it comes to putting their data on cloud. But what they need to be told is that many security tools have come up today which can ensure security of this data and there should not be any apprehension regarding it. This would further challenge them while expanding into AI & ML because all these technologies revolve around data and unless the correct data is given, analysing them will again be a big challenge.”    

Sourav Das, Group Chief of Digital & IT, Rupa & Co. 

“Artificial Intelligence (AI) is very easier said than done, there are a lot that goes into AI. If you look from the supply chain perspective, for example we are looking at 15 brands and within each brand there are so many different products, styles, SKUs and then we are looking at the data for each one of them and how to get meaningful information out of that. If you look at a geographical spread, for example we are looking at more than a lakh retailer where we are looking at secondary sales. All this data will give a meaningful insight. Securing that whole piece is a mammoth task. So, I think the rate at which things are growing in terms of complexity and models, the statistical part of AI is simpler but getting the hands around the overall scheme of things is the bigger challenge. When we are very busy with all these, at times cybersecurity takes a back seat.” 

Kripadyuti Sarkar, Group CIO-Ambuja Neotia 

“Every day we are encountering 500 AIs in real estate, there is innovation in designing or architecture etc. But the problem is the AIs which are the trained model and the data they trained are also a challenge because the user community consumes this as a Bible. But we are not sure how they train because in the same school we can train a good person, also with the same set of data by using defective learning tools we can also get bad results. Second, the perimeter of cyber threats increases every day so the security bandwidth is also increasing exponentially. On one hand we have to be cautious about what AI tool we are using and on the other we have to embrace AI as a technology.”   

Key Take-aways from the brain storming session finds that, AI is rapidly transforming many industries and aspects of our lives, but it also introduces new security risks. Securing network and data security in the AI-driven world is a complex and challenging task. AI-powered applications and systems are increasingly being used in all aspects of our lives, from healthcare to finance to transportation. This increased reliance on AI has also led to an increased risk of cyberattacks.

AI systems are constantly learning and evolving, making it difficult to develop static security measures that can keep up. Additionally, AI systems are often used to collect and analyze large amounts of data, which can be a valuable target for attackers. And AI systems can be used to generate new and sophisticated cyberattacks that are difficult to detect and defend against.