AI’s Cyber Shield: Transforming India’s Digital Defense

As India grapples with a sharp rise in sophisticated cyber threats—over 369 million security incidents in 2025 alone—cybersecurity providers are under immense pressure to deliver smarter, faster, and more accessible protection. In this exclusive CISO Forum interview, Rajesh Chhabra, General Manager – India & South Asia at Acronis, unpacks how the company’s strategic integration of AI and ML is not just improving threat detection and response but also transforming how Indian businesses, especially SMBs, manage security in cloud-native, resource-constrained environments. From predictive analytics to AI Copilots and autonomous Security Operations Centers (SoCs), Acronis is betting on AI as the foundation of cyber resilience—a catalyst for growth in a market projected to reach $12.9 billion by 2030.

CISO Forum: How exactly is Acronis leveraging AI to transform traditional cybersecurity approaches in India, and what unique challenges has this addressed?

Rajesh Chhabra: Acronis is transforming traditional cybersecurity by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) into its Cyber Protect Cloud platform. These technologies empower Indian businesses, tiny to medium-sized enterprises (SMBs), to shift from reactive defense to proactive protection.

Here’s how:

Real-Time Threat Detection: Acronis uses multiple AI/ML engines to process vast volumes of telemetry data, enabling real-time detection of advanced ransomware and phishing attacks—two of the most prevalent threats in India.

Predictive Analytics: Our ML models detect anomalies and threat patterns, enabling the prediction and blocking of zero-day attacks before they occur. Solutions like Advanced Security + XDR and EDR bring enterprise-grade protection to SMBs with ease of deployment and management.

Automated Threat Response: With tools like AI Copilot, we automate threat hunting, triage, and script generation. It can also analyze past support tickets to recommend fixes, lowering mean time to resolution (MTTR) and reducing IT workload.

India’s cybersecurity challenges are significant in scale:

Massive Attacks: Nearly 370 million malware attacks and over a million ransomware incidents were recorded in 2024. Acronis’s AI blocks nearly 40% of threats proactively.

SMB Constraints: With limited budgets and talent, especially outside metropolitan areas, our AI-powered, user-friendly solutions provide a strong defense for small IT teams.

Acronis is modernizing cybersecurity in India with scalable AI.

CISO Forum: With India detecting over 369 million security incidents in 2025 alone, how are your AI systems helping organizations identify, predict, and prevent these attacks? Can you share specific examples of how machine learning has improved threat detection for your Indian clients?

Rajesh Chhabra: The scale and sophistication of cyber threats in India continue to grow, but so does the power of AI to defend against them. At Acronis, we’re leveraging machine learning and predictive analytics to help Indian organizations move beyond detection into prevention and proactive defense.

Here’s how our AI systems are making a tangible difference:

Predictive Threat Detection: Acronis uses machine learning models trained on billions of global and regional data points to identify anomalies and patterns that indicate potential threats. Since 2017, our AI has detected subtle signs, such as malicious module injections in Windows processes—often precursors to zero-day attacks—enabling preemptive action.

Behavioral Analysis at Scale: Our Advanced Security + EDR/XDR solutions continuously monitor endpoint behavior. AI flags unusual file access, privilege escalation, or lateral movement—indicators of ransomware or APTs. This is particularly vital for sectors such as banking, education, and healthcare, where vulnerabilities often stem from human error or outdated systems.

Automated, Real-Time Response: Once a threat is detected, AI swiftly executes countermeasures—isolating endpoints, blocking URLs, or triggering backup recovery. 50% of all incidents in our XDR platform are now resolved automatically, including threat correlation, response playbook execution, and AI-generated summaries.

In India’s evolving cyber landscape, AI is no longer optional—it’s essential.

CISO Forum: Your company revenue grew from $96.6M in 2021 to $426.3M in 2024. How much of this growth do you attribute to your AI investments, and what specific AI innovations have delivered the most value to your cybersecurity offerings during this period?

Rajesh Chhabra: Our strategic investments in AI have directly contributed to a significant portion of our growth—more than 4X in just three years. These innovations have transformed how we deliver cybersecurity and data protection, making enterprise-grade security accessible and manageable for MSPs and SMBs.

Two AI-driven innovations that not only improved the speed and accuracy of threat detection and incident handling but also enabled scalable protection for our MSP partners, many of whom serve clients with limited in-house cybersecurity expertise:

• AI-Driven Summarization in Incident Response: One of our most impactful advancements has been the integration of AI-powered incident summarization within our detection and response workflows. By automatically analyzing and distilling critical details—such as tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), as well as indicators of attack (IOAs) and indicators of compromise (IOCs)—we’ve significantly reduced the cognitive burden on security analysts. This enables them to respond more quickly, make more informed decisions, and correlate threats more effectively across different environments. It’s a game-changer in terms of both productivity and threat mitigation.
  
• LLMs for Threat Hunting Acceleration: We’ve also embedded large language models (LLMs) into our XDR platform, enabling analysts to generate complex threat-hunting queries using XQL (XDR Query Language) with natural language input. This democratizes advanced detection capabilities by abstracting the technical complexity, empowering teams to hunt for threats more effectively without requiring deep coding or query-writing expertise.

CISO Forum: With 52% of Indian organizations citing cloud threats as a top concern, how does Acronis’s AI-driven approach outperform traditional cloud security solutions in addressing vulnerabilities?

Rajesh Chhabra: Cloud-related threats are a top concern for Indian businesses, especially as SaaS adoption and hybrid cloud environments grow. At Acronis, we’re addressing these challenges by integrating AI with robust cloud data protection—especially for widely used platforms like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.

Our strategy focuses on two key pillars: proactive AI-driven threat detection and resilient, malware-free recovery.

For example, Acronis Cyber Protect for Microsoft 365 goes beyond basic backup. It allows granular recovery of mailboxes, emails, contacts, tasks, and calendars. A centralized web console simplifies protection for large user bases and supports hybrid cloud backup—meeting compliance needs and strengthening native recovery tools.

AI adds critical advantages:

• Safe Recovery Points: AI scans backups to ensure data is clean before restoration, preventing re-infection by ransomware—often missed by traditional tools.

• AI-Driven Monitoring: Our AI analyzes system behavior and vital signs, such as CPU and memory usage, to trigger alerts before cloud breaches occur.

What differentiates Acronis is its unified, AI-powered platform:

• All-in-One Protection: Combines endpoint security, backup, anti-malware, and disaster recovery in one console.

• Automation: AI handles threat response, hunting, and even support resolution via AI Copilot.

• SMB-Friendly: With India-specific pricing, it simplifies advanced protection for smaller teams.
  
  Acronis delivers preventive, integrated cloud security tailored to India’s needs.

CISO Forum: The cybersecurity skills gap remains a critical issue globally. How is Acronis using AI to help Indian organizations overcome talent shortages, and do you see AI augmenting human expertise or eventually replacing specific cybersecurity roles?

Rajesh Chhabra: The global cybersecurity skills gap is especially pronounced in India, where rapid digitalization has outpaced the supply of trained professionals. At Acronis, we view AI as a powerful enabler—not a replacement—for human expertise. Our mission is to enhance the capabilities of existing teams and make advanced cybersecurity solutions accessible to organizations of all sizes.

Here’s how we’re addressing the talent shortage:

Automation of Routine Tasks: Acronis’s Advanced Automation and AI Copilot reduce the burden of repetitive tasks, such as patch management, script generation, and threat hunting. AI-assisted scripting, for example, can save days of manual work, improving productivity for small IT teams without requiring deep specialization.

Simplified Security for SMBs: Many Indian small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) lack dedicated cybersecurity talent. Our AI-powered EDR and XDR solutions offer ease of use, featuring Copilot-driven incident summaries and root cause insights—enabling generalist IT staff to handle complex security challenges. With India-specific pricing, we remove financial and technical barriers to entry.

Augmenting, Not Replacing, Human Expertise: AI handles time-sensitive tasks, such as detection and initial response, but complex threats—like APT ransomware targeting Indian Managed Service Providers (MSPs)—require human judgment. Acronis provides insights; professionals make the decisions.

Together, AI and human intelligence form a hybrid model critical to closing India’s cybersecurity talent gap and securing its digital future.

CISO Forum: By 2030, how will AI shape India’s $12.90B cybersecurity market, and what emerging AI innovations are Acronis exploring to revolutionize cyber protection?

Rajesh Chhabra: By 2030, AI will be the cornerstone of next-generation cybersecurity, and at Acronis, we’re already laying the groundwork to make that vision a reality. As the Indian cybersecurity market rapidly evolves, AI will augment existing defenses and redefine how businesses detect, respond to, and prevent threats.

Acronis is investing in several AI-driven innovations that we believe will transform cyber protection:

Predictive Security: AI will help anticipate threats before they cause harm. By analyzing global and regional threat intelligence alongside behavioral data from cloud and endpoint environments, Acronis solutions will enable Indian organizations to proactively detect and neutralize risks, reducing downtime and data loss.

Automated Mitigation with Autonomous SoC: We’re building an AI-assisted, autonomous Security Operations Center (SoC) to provide intelligent, real-time responses—beneficial for SMBs with limited security staff.

AI for Compliance Automation: With laws like the DPDP Act, AI will automate data classification, encryption, and policy enforcement, reducing compliance risks.

Seamless Ecosystem Integration: Our AI-powered, unified platform enables MSPs and businesses to manage security, backup, and recovery from a single, intuitive interface.

In short, Acronis is committed to making cybersecurity more intelligent, proactive, and accessible—helping even smaller businesses thrive in an increasingly complex digital landscape.

CISO Forum: How are you helping CISOs address the current pressing challenges in cybersecurity?

Rajesh Chhabra: Acronis supports CISOs with tools and services to address key cybersecurity challenges. Below are a few examples:

• Integrated Protection: Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud combines cybersecurity, data protection, and advanced management, simplifying CISOs’ oversight of complex cloud and hybrid environments. Acronis eases the burden on IT teams by consolidating security functions into a single platform, addressing the skill shortages and resource constraints that CISOs face.

• Ransomware Mitigation: AI-driven anti-ransomware technology detects and blocks encryption attempts, ensuring data security and recovery without ransom payments, a top priority for CISOs.
  
• Compliance Tools: Acronis provides encryption, compliance, audit logs, and data sovereignty options to help CISOs meet regulatory requirements, including those outlined in India’s IT and data protection frameworks.
  
• Acronis CyberApp Standard: Acronis CyberApp Standard is a low-code integration framework designed to help organizations, including CISOs, streamline their cybersecurity operations. It enables seamless integration of third-party applications into the Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud platform, allowing for unified management of security tools, alerts, and reports. This unified approach reduces operational complexity and minimizes the risk of human error by consolidating multiple tools into a single interface.

CISO Forum: With the DPDP Act set to be implemented soon in India, what impact will it have on the overall cybersecurity ecosystem? What best practices would you recommend for Indian businesses to ensure better compliance?

Rajesh Chhabra: The upcoming implementation of India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act is a significant milestone in strengthening the country’s data privacy and cybersecurity framework. With its emphasis on data minimization, purpose limitation, and privacy by design, the Act aligns India with global standards, such as the GDPR.

This shift will enhance cybersecurity awareness and accountability, especially in high-risk sectors such as banking, healthcare, and IT services. However, it also introduces new compliance burdens—particularly for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), which often face resource and expertise constraints.

To help organizations navigate these changes, Acronis recommends the following best practices based on our global experience and integrated solutions:

Implement Multi-Layered Security: Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud provides comprehensive protection by combining real-time threat detection, anti-ransomware protection, backup, disaster recovery, and endpoint protection. AI-driven behavioral analysis, strong encryption, and multi-factor authentication (MFA) ensure that data is protected by DPDP guidelines.

Automate Compliance Tasks: Automation tools—such as patch management, activity logging, and data protection impact assessments (DPIAs)—streamline compliance and minimize human error.

Invest in Employee Training: Acronis Security Awareness Training empowers employees to recognize phishing attempts and understand DPDP data handling rules.

While the DPDP Act poses challenges, it also presents an opportunity for Indian businesses to modernize their cybersecurity, reduce risk, and establish long-term digital trust.

CISO Forum: What new technology innovations or solutions is your company working on?

Rajesh Chhabra: At Acronis, our innovation roadmap focuses on leveraging AI, enhancing our cloud platform, and expanding cybersecurity and data protection capabilities to support our partners’ evolving needs.

A significant focus is advancing Acronis Copilot within our Advanced Automation solution. We’re enhancing features such as semantic search and automated root cause analysis. Trials have shown that Copilot can group similar issues and suggest fixes, reducing resolution time and boosting IT efficiency.

We’re also building an AI-assisted Security Operations Center (SoC) to help smaller MSPs respond to threats proactively—even with limited resources.

In addition, we’re strengthening our Extended Detection and Response (XDR) capabilities, tailoring protection across more industry verticals.

Another priority is improving protection for Microsoft 365, a key platform for MSPs. We’re reinforcing security layers and integrations to ensure substantial compliance and data protection.

These innovations demonstrate our commitment to equipping MSPs with intelligent, automated tools that enhance their ability to protect clients better and drive business growth.