We Will Venture Into Traditional Cybersecurity Market To Build Ultra-Secure Cyber Environment: Pavan Kushwaha

From where did the idea of a Cyber-security start-up germinate?

According to Pavan Kushwaha, the CEO, as well as the founder of Kratikal, the idea to start Kratikal was born because his account was hacked during his years in college and he started investigating the whole situation and very soon this led to the idea of starting Kratikal. 

Can you explain the terms ‘cybersecurity simulation and awareness’, ‘anti-spoofing tool’, ‘anti-phishing’, ‘take-down solution’, ‘code risk review’ in detail?

Cybersecurity attack simulation refers to dummy cyber-attacks that are developed on the lines of a real-life cyber attack. The simulated attack helps employees in identifying red flags that can prevent a probable cyber attack.

The anti-spoofing tool refers to KDMARC which prevents the attempts of spoofing your organization’s email domain. This is done by setting up DMARC records and ensuring that policies appropriate for your organization’s email domain are in place.  

The code-risk review refers to the process of auditing the source code for an application to verify that proper security controls are present and are invoked in all the right places to ensure that they are working properly.

Take-down solution refers to KPMonitor which is an anti-phishing & fraud monitoring tool that identifies phished websites, domains and mobile applications and then either takes down the impersonation permanently and instantly.

Within the period of the last seven years, we have built ourselves from being a cybersecurity training academy that has been incubated under the Ministry of Telecom to one of the leading cybersecurity solutions provider firm which has been recognized at the 11th Top 100 CISO Awards, 2019 as one of the top 3 cybersecurity startups in the country. Our foremost product ThreatCop was recognized as one of the Top 10 most innovative products in the year 2017 by DSCI NASSCOM. The tools ability to inculcate cyber awareness among employees led to it being the reason for Kratikal to be awarded as one of the top 6 companies in the NPC Product showcase’ in the Jury Choice Awards at the NASSCOM Product Conclave 2018. Each of our products has an extremely interactive user interface that enhances the ease of use. Our products are backed up with a twenty-four-seven capable and expert team of experts. 

Who is your target consumer base and what is your marketing strategy?

Our target consumer base includes E-commerce, Fintech, NBFC, BFSI, Telecom, Consumer Internet, Cloud Service Platforms, Manufacturing and Healthcare. We have been working on increasing our clientele with our channel partners and resellers, PR and Media, Conferences and Competitions, Digital Marketing and Customer references.

What is the market presence of the company and what are its expansion plans? Do you also aim to enter the international market?

We are working on increasing our market reach in two more cities including Chennai and Pune. We are also working on two more cybersecurity products targeting different cybersecurity issues. Our plan is to generate 300 crore as our annual revenue while expanding our reach globally. Once we are strong enough in the niche market for non-conventional cybersecurity products, we will venture into the traditional cybersecurity market to build an ultra-secure cyber environment with the world-class cybersecurity solutions including cybersecurity products and services. We plan to become the largest cybersecurity solutions providing firm in India within a few years and are planning to become a business-to-consumer cybersecurity company.

Tell us about Kratikal’s journey of getting incubated from the Ministry of Telecom?

To address the growing demand in cybersecurity professionals, Kratikal
partnered with Telecom Centres of Excellence to provide training in cyber-security students in partner colleges and universities in the year 2017. 

When did it get recognition from Startup India?

In 2016.