Updated on: April 28, 2024
In an recent SafetyDetectives interview with Andrey Leskin, CTO of Qrator Labs, we delve into the cutting-edge world of cybersecurity and DDoS protection. As a key figure at Qrator Labs, Andrey oversees product management and technological strategy, playing a pivotal role in shaping the company’s innovative approaches. Throughout the interview, he shares his expert insights on the challenges and solutions in protecting businesses from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. He also highlights the unique aspects of Qrator Labs’ customer communication and technological prowess that set them apart in a competitive industry. Join us as we explore the front lines of cyber defense with one of the sector’s leading minds.
Could you introduce yourself and describe your role at Qrator Labs?
My name is Andrey Leskin, and I am the CTO at Qrator Labs. I also manage several of our products, both for internal and external use. My role is multifaceted: firstly, to ensure that our teams are collaborating effectively in the development of our products; and secondly, to set and communicate the technological goals for our products, spanning short-term to long-term objectives, throughout the company.
How does Qrator Labs stand out among other cybersecurity and DDoS protection companies?
Our differentiation lies primarily in two areas: communication and technology. We are proactive in our communication with customers, especially in critical situations where a customer is under attack. Our goal is to reassure them and ensure they receive the necessary defense swiftly.
We have a dedicated technical support team available 24/7 at absolutely all billing plans, composed of experts ready to respond as soon as a customer reaches out through our messaging system. Additionally, we have specialized personnel who assist our enterprise customers during the onboarding process, guiding them on how to best engage with our services. We have extensive experience with enterprise clients and deeply understand their security needs.
On the technological front, let me highlight our R&D team’s excellence. They develop robust products capable of mitigating any cyber threats. A specific example of our innovative approach is how we handle HTTP traffic analysis at the OSI model’s Layer 7 without requiring customers to provide their TLS certificates, ensuring traffic remains encrypted yet analyzable for threat mitigation.
How do you handle false positives to ensure that legitimate traffic is not disrupted?
With many years of experience, we’ve developed a set of default rules that generally perform well for most clients. Nevertheless, false positives are an unavoidable reality. To minimize them, we closely monitor our clients’ traffic initially to ensure our filtering accuracy. Our technical support team is equipped with a flexible filtering framework that allows them to make adjustments on the fly, addressing any issues with false positives or negatives without the need to escalate to our development team.
What types of cyber threats are businesses most vulnerable to today?
The three major threats that have consistently posed the highest risk over the past decade are phishing, hacking, and DDoS attacks. These threats, if successful, can have devastating effects on businesses worldwide, with numerous incidents reported in the media involving significant financial and data losses.
Can you explain what integrated cloud-based network security is and how it differs from traditional network security methods?
Cloud-based network security is all about efficiency and expertise, as providers like us manage these threats daily. In 2023 only, we handled around 1,000 high bandwidth DDoS attacks. Cloud-based security allows for more agile and scalable responses compared to traditional methods, which might rely on physical hardware that can be overwhelmed by severe attacks, leading to bottlenecks and service disruptions.
What advice do you have for businesses looking to strengthen their cybersecurity posture?
Security should be viewed as an ongoing process rather than a static checklist. It requires a proactive mindset because your infrastructure evolves, new vulnerabilities may emerge, and the landscape of threats changes frequently. Setting up a DDoS mitigation service during a period of calm, for instance, allows your team to integrate the service smoothly and step into the world of potential threats prepared,