Liquid Telecoms has unveiled a cyber security unit which offers end-to-end protection of data on digital devices in response to the rise in cyber security threats during the COVID-19 period. BY EVERSON MUSHAVA/FIDELITY MHLANGA The launch of the unit follows research by the telecoms giant last month that concluded that cyber security threats were on a rise during the COVID-19 period where companies had to adapt to changing circumstances, with workers now operating from home. The new working model created new vulnerabilities to cyber attacks and hence the need to rethink how cyber security has been approached in order to give maximum protection to customers at every intersection of their digitally transformed business. Liquid said the return of employees creates a need by companies to embrace a hybrid model of digital and onsite working. “Liquid Telecom has streamlined and strengthened its cyber security offerings into one unit to address these growing concerns,” said David Behr, Liquid’s group chief digital officer said. “With decades of knowledge in this field and an eye on the future, the offering is designed to address the key concerns of IT decision makers, by securing businesses effectively to increase productivity.” Liquid is a leading communications solutions provider across 13 countries, primarily in Eastern, Southern Africa and serves mobile operators, carriers, enterprise, media and content companies and retail customers with high-speed, reliable connectivity, hosting and co-location and digital services. “Although we are unveiling the cyber security unit today, Liquid Telecom is not new to this space,” Behr said. “We have successfully secured our own network for the past 15 years, and now, through our strategic partnerships with Netskope, Logicalis, Microsoft and Cyber Risk Aware, we have curated the best solutions in the industry to address the changing demands of a digitally transformed business world, allowing customers to focus on their core business offering while we manage their complete IT environment,” He said while many African companies already have some level of protection, the safeguards may not be designed to protect an organisation at every level of its operation. Behr said the releasing of its end-to-end solution is not only well timed, but also covers all aspects of security working together seamlessly and reducing the opportunity for breaches and risks. He said cyber innovation will be embedded in business strategies. Cyber security is evolving, with small companies taking an enterprise approach to while big corporates take a risk centric view. Concern over cloud security is growing, he said, adding, there was a need to create human firewalls in order to protect the company from security breaches.