BSE partners with John Chambers’ backed Lucideus to secure stock brokers as per SEBI guidelines using SAFE

Jaipur, January 16, 2019: India’s premier stock exchange, BSE, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lucideus, the leading cyber security provider in India to ward off potential cyber threats and secure stock brokers’ interests as per the SEBI guidelines.

Lucideus will build and provide a Cyber Security Operations Center (SOC) as a service using Lucideus’ Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning-backed Security Assessment Framework for Enterprises (SAFE) solution as per the Cyber Security & Cyber Resilience framework for Stock Brokers / Depository participants released by the market regulator on 3rd December 2018.

SAFE will be able to provide the entire broker community a single-click subscription option, where they can opt into the solution that will be offered via Marketplace Tech Infra Services (a wholly-owned subsidiary of BSE). It will provide an on-premise SAFE-in-a-box solution synced with Lucideus SAFE solution hosted at the BSE Data Centres to provide real-time monitoring of all parameters covered in the guideline. The on-premise box solution will host open-source tools along with the SAFE software that will aggregate insights from each terminal and sense the network security controls to send them along with the sys-logs to SAFE to be processed in real-time.

Commenting on the development, S. Ravi, Chairman, BSE, said, “With an evolving array of potential cyber-attacks, it has become essential to have robust cyber security in place and safeguard the interests of our stock brokers. Even a minor cyber security breach could have massive economic and financial consequences. By associating with Lucideus, the leader in cyber security services and solutions, we aim to strengthen the cyber security framework, tackle all the challenges pertaining to capital markets ecosystem and adhere to SEBI’s guidelines to protect the integrity of data and guard against breaches of privacy.”

Commenting on the partnership, John Chambers, former Chairman & CEO of Cisco, and current Founder & CEO of JC2 Ventures, said “As the fastest stock exchange in the world, BSE is a global benchmark for companies today. BSE has always been in the forefront of enabling cutting-edge technology solutions, and Lucideus has been a game-changer in the cybersecurity industry since its inception. This will be a true win-win partnership for not only BSE and Lucideus but also for the entire broker community and their customers. Together, BSE and Lucideus will ensure the safety and security of data, in line with the global best practices that the SEBI framework covers.”

Saket Modi, CEO & Co-Founder of Lucideus, said “Lucideus is committed to working with BSE and market participants to monitor developments and protect them against the threats through cyber intrusion, denial of service attacks, manipulation, misuse by insiders and other cyber misconduct. In such uncertain times with global Fortune 500 companies being hacked regularly, we are confident of delivering a platform (via SAFE) that the entire broker ecosystem and the regulator can rely upon.”

The SAFE platform integrates with the existing technology stack of an enterprise to provide a real-time cyber risk assessment (a number between 0-5) at a macro level across the organization that can be broken down into micro-level scoring individually for each asset. It considers controls across people, process and technology. With this, Lucideus aims to make cyber risk an informed business decision such that it will allow the security team to communicate to the non-tech specialists (CXOs, Business Unit Leaders and Board) about the cyber security posture of the enterprise.

About BSE

BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) established in 1875, is Asia’s first & now the world’s fastest Stock Exchange with a speed of 6 microseconds. BSE is India’s leading exchange group and has played a prominent role in developing the Indian capital market. BSE is a corporatized and demutualised entity, with a broad shareholder base that includes the leading global exchange- Deutsche Bourse, as a strategic partner. BSE provides an efficient and transparent market for trading in equity, debt instruments, equity derivatives, currency derivatives, interest rate derivatives, mutual funds and stock lending and borrowing.

BSE also has a dedicated platform for trading in equities of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that has been highly successful. BSE also has a dedicated MF distribution platform BSE StAR MF which is India Largest Mutual Funds Distribution Infrastructure. On October 1, 2018, BSE launched commodity derivatives trading in delivery-based futures contract in gold (1 kg) and silver (30 kg).

BSE provides a host of other services to capital market participants including risk management, clearing, settlement, market data services and education. It has a global reach with customers around the world and a nation-wide presence. BSE’s systems and processes are designed to safeguard market integrity, drive the growth of the Indian capital market and stimulate innovation and competition across all market segments.

Indian Clearing Corporation Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of BSE, acts as the central counterparty to all trades executed on the BSE trading platform and provides full novation, guaranteeing the settlement of all bonafide trades executed. BSE Institute Ltd, another fully owned subsidiary of BSE runs one of the most respected capital market educational institutes in the country. Central Depository Services Ltd. (CDSL), associate company of BSE, is one of the two Depositories in India.

About Manish Mathur