CNH Industrial inaugurates new cyber defence lab at its India Tech Centre

Off-highway segment major CNH Industrial has inaugurated a new cyber defence lab at its India Technology Centre (ITC) in Gurugram. The new lab will focus on bolstering the cybersecurity preparedness at the company’s global operations, and complement its existing cyber defence teams in South Dakota, in the United States.

At present, the cyber defence lab at CNH Industrial’s Gurugram technology centre deploys a team of 10 engineers, including certified ethical hackers, and forensic investigators, who will complement the teams in the US, to offer round-the-clock cyber safety to the multi-continent operations of the global giant.

“India is becoming a key part of our global cybersecurity capability, and is leading such incidents for 12 hours a day, throughout the week, and handing it back to the complementary team in the US during non-working hours,” Marc Kermisch, Chief Digital & Information Officer, CNH Industrial, told Autocar Professional.

TAKING ON CYBER CRIMINALS

“CNH Industrial’s cyber defence vertical has built a set of tools that allow it to monitor over 40,000 assets that are connected to our network in real time. The team is fighting cyber criminals, dealing with malware, and helping educate the CNH Industrial staff,” he added.

While the centre has been formally inaugurated this week, the team had been getting into place at the India Technology Centre over the last few months. Citing a recent example, Kermisch said that the India cyber defence lab was able to seamlessly manage a recent cybersecurity incident at CNH Industrial’s key vendor in Australia. “The vendor did not have deep, sophisticated cybersecurity practices, and we had to handhold them. That incident was caught by the India team, which led the entire remediation of the problem by working directly with the CNH Industrial teams in Australia. It was a multi-week incident that had to be managed closely, and the talent that we have been able to hire in India allowed us to manage such a catastrophic incident,” he said.

“It truly is a growth opportunity for us, and we plan to double the cyber defence workforce at the ITC within the next 12 months,” he added.

In March 2022, CNH Industrial inaugurated its new India Technology Center in Gurugram, which is equipped with the latest tech and capabilities including an innovation center, vehicle simulation and a Extended Reality/Virtual Reality lab to support global technology-led projects. It now houses the cyber lab too.

NEW FACILITY OFFERS HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT CAPABILITIES

Within a short span of 18 months since commissioning, CNH Industrial’s ITC has aggressively ramped up its workforce and capabilities, which span across various engineering verticals, including IT, digital, vehicle electronics, hardware development, embedded software, as well as electrical, mechanical, powertrain, and hydraulic engineering.

The company currently employs around 700 engineers, and says almost 70 percent of its workforce comes with a relevant experience for the automotive industry. “We have been fortunate to have found the right talent that has helped us build the India Technology Centre. The access to bright engineering talent is tremendous in India, and recognising this talent enabled us to put the investment on the ground and grow the team as fast as we have. Around 70 percent of the engineering talent we hire comes with experience within our industry, be it automotive, heavy machinery, electronics, or software. We are getting a higher ratio of experienced workforce in India than anywhere else in the world,” said Kermisch.

The company is now expanding its Gurugram technology centre by acquiring 70,000 square feet of office space in two phases. The first phase (35,000 square feet) will be completed by end-2023, and it plans to add another 400-500 engineers in its workforce over the next two years. “We continue to see new job opportunities coming to India even as there are attritions globally.

“India plays a huge role in the holistic development of CNH Industrial products around the world, and the ITC is plugging into CNH Industrial’s global teams when it comes to new product development. India has 200 product development engineers, focused on this role, and who are working on global projects like large combines for the US market, or sugarcane harvesters being developed for Latin America, or specialty vineyard tractors for the European market,” added Kermisch.

The IT and digital divisions at the ITC are working on dealer and employee-based applications, on-board electronics, and undertaking software and embedded software engineering. “Every single farmer that logs into the CNH Industrial application globally is being empowered by the IT and digital teams working out of the India Technology Centre,” he said.

CNH Industrial has also expanded its Indian technology operations beyond Gurugram, and has 70 engineers stationed across Bengaluru and Pune. “Our talent, therefore, is dispersed in India, and we are trying to put our centres where there is availability of the right talent. We continue to anticipate a similar clip of growth that we witnessed last year, this year as well,” he added.

CNH Industrial India caters to the domestic market through its Case IH, New Holland Agriculture and CASE Construction Equipment brands with ‘Made in India’ manufacturing operations for over 25 years.

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