Bharti Airtel has partnered with cyber security provider Symantec to protect Indian businesses from online threats. The telecom operator, which will be Symantec’s only cyber security service partner in India, will distribute its software in the country, PTI reported on Monday.

Airtel’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer for India and South Asia Gopal Vittal said sophisticated cyber threats have become the new normal in today’s digitally connected world. These can disrupt business continuity, but “enterprises need to guard against these emerging threats”, he said, according to The Economic Times.

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With more Indian companies taking up cloud applications and infrastructure, they require security custom-built for such an environment, which Airtel and Symantec can provide, the companies said. The partnership “leverages Airtel’s business-to-business reach and Symantec’s Integrated Cyber Defense Platform”.

Symantec CEO Greg Clark said he saw great opportunity in India with the unprecedented levels of cyber crime and cyber attacks at the moment. “The threat environment is more dangerous and complex than ever,” he said. “The partnership between Airtel and Symantec presents massive value to businesses in India.”

Rise in cyber threats

This alliance comes amid a rise in security threats in recent months. In June, a global cyber attack identified as the Petya ransomware targeted India’s largest container port, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust. Symantec had said that India was the worst affected by this cyber crime.

In May, ransomware WannaCry had crippled systems worldwide and affected around around 99 countries, including India. While cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab had said that at least 45,000 computers in 74 countries were affected by the computer virus, another security firm Avast put the tally at 57,000 systems across 99 countries.