On Oct. 20, AhnLab held its annual security conference ISF 2021. The latest security trends and AhnLab's strategies and technologies were introduced there.

Kang Seok-gyun, CEO of AhnLab, said, “Since telecommuting and the cloud became common after COVID-19, cyber threats are on the rise. These threats that have already become advanced will not go away even if COVID-19 goes away.   With digital transformation, we are required to optimize new technologies according to the characteristics and conditions of the organization and strengthen security.”

AhnLab put special emphasis is on operational technology (OT), cloud, and artificial intelligence (AI).

The OT environment of industrial facilities such as power plants and semiconductor factories has different characteristics from information technology (IT). The OT system places the most importance on the availability which factories run non-stop, and once the system is built, it must be maintained for at least 10 years.

OT systems mostly made up of closed networks are theoretically safe environment, but in reality, the system is damaged through methods such as accessing the OT system by infecting the IT system connected to the OT system or the user's PC. Therefore, a security strategy specialized for OT is needed.

Han Chang-gyu, Head of AhnLab Security Emergency response Center (ASEC), advised that an understanding of cloud security is needed while corporate IT infrastructure is being transferred to the cloud.

He emphasized that ▲Cloud operators are not fully responsible for security problems ▲Threats inherent in the cloud environment exist ▲Security threats that existed in the on-premises environment also exist in the cloud ▲Increase in threats targeting the Linux platform used in the cloud environment as the major threats, and asserted that appropriate countermeasures must be prepared.

AI, which has been attracting attention as a next-generation technology, has infiltrated completely into the security industry. It is a method which AI improves the detection ability through machine learning and automatically processes tasks that cannot be handled one by one or that are complicated. AhnLab's Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) and Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) solutions are the major ones.

Han said, “AhnLab is collaborating with more than 50 security companies and organizations around the world to collect information. Through engines such as reputation analysis, risk scoring, correlation analysis, and machine learning, we have built a system that can automatically respond to more than 90% of executable file malware, and we are strengthening research for new automation techniques. It can also be called big data that collects and analyzes more data than any other companies in Korea.”

CEO Kang asserted that we need to go one step further from “Digital Transformation” and prepare for “Intelligent Transformation.” He then said, “We will become a partner that provides optimal solutions, services, and security products so that we can help companies that have to respond quickly to the rapidly changing business environment respond quickly to changes.”

Pangyo Technovalley is an innovation hub for global companies comparable to the Silicon Valley in the US, Zhongguancun in China, and STATION F in France. It is an Asia tech hub with 1,259 IT, BT, CT, and NT companies that possess innovative products and technologies. Located just south of the metropolitan area, it provides the best environment for Korean companies to do business with great transportation access and infrastructure.

Various high-tech companies are located in Pangyo Technovalley, and it is occupied by 64,000 full-time employees, many in their 20-30s. In terms of industry, the companies are engaged in information technology, contents technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.

With the support of innovative companies with global capabilities such as Kakao, Naver, AhnLab, Krafton, NCSoft, Nexon, and Hancom, companies in Pangyo Technovalley recorded 107 trillion won in sales last year. Investment and infrastructure growth in Pangyo is expected to continue, with the Metaverse hub entering Pangyo this year.

Source: Pangyo Techno Valley Official Newsroom 

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