Global cybersecurity leader Sophos has reported significant business growth in India over the last fiscal year, reaching a figure of 60 percent. This growth four times exceeded the growth rate of the broader domestic market, according to a senior company executive.
India is currently the largest contributor to Sophos's operations in the Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) region and ranks first globally among regions in terms of growth rates.
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Gavin Streusers, Vice President of Asia-Pacific and Japan at Sophos, noted in an interview with PTI that the cybersecurity market in India is growing by approximately 15 percent. However, during the last fiscal year (FY26), the company demonstrated a growth of 60 percent, meaning its growth rate is four times faster than the market rate.
Streusers attributed this 'phenomenal success' to the growing awareness of the importance of cyber resilience and increased regulatory attention, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP Act).
The company is currently hiring over 1500 employees in India, making it Sophos's largest headquarters in all countries. Globally, the company has about 5500 employees.
Streusers emphasized that India represents a very important and critically significant market for both the Asia-Pacific region and the company as a whole, especially considering the observed growth and opportunities in the market.
He highlighted the concept of a 'cybersecurity poverty line,' which affects organizations that do not possess 'MESI'—an acronym representing Money, Expertise, Capability, and Influence.
According to him, even large organizations with Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) can fall below this threshold if they lack the experience to manage operations or do not have sufficient influence over their entire environment, particularly regarding third-party and supply chain risks.
Streusers pointed out that one of the top five challenges for CISOs in India is the risk associated with third parties and the supply chain. He explained that even with a strong defense system, connecting to various partners or SaaS application providers can lead an organization to become a victim of compromise in one of these applications or partnerships.
Furthermore, he noted that identity-based attacks have become the primary vector, stating that India is the 'second country in the world' for phishing. Streusers added that attackers are not hacking systems but gaining entry into them, and ransomware should also be considered an identity-related problem.
Regarding the impact of artificial intelligence on cybersecurity, Streusers stated that AI has increased the sophistication of phishing, making it 'very difficult to distinguish what is real and what is compromised.'