When Ethical Hacking Met Crisis PR : How vpnMentor Helped Safeguard 7 Million Indians
When vpnMentor’s research team uncovered a massive data breach exposing sensitive financial details of 7 million BHIM mobile payment app users in India, they faced a critical challenge: how to responsibly disclose the vulnerability while ensuring swift action to protect affected Indians. As the world’s leading VPN review platform with a mission to make the internet safer, vpnMentor turned to EXL PR to navigate this cybersecurity and communications minefield.
The stakes couldn’t have been higher. With the data leak still active, EXL PR’s first priority was coordinating with Indian authorities including CERT-In and CSC BHIM to secure the breach before any public announcement. This delicate dance required precise timing – media outreach had to wait until remediation was complete, yet the public needed to be informed promptly about potential risks.
EXL PR engineered a targeted campaign that balanced these competing demands with surgical precision. Within just five days of the secured breach, the story exploded across 118+ media outlets worldwide. Bloomberg, Mashable and Dark Reading carried the exclusive, while regional Indian media ensured local impact. The coverage didn’t just report facts – 95% of stories featured vpnMentor’s cybersecurity experts as authoritative voices, cementing their reputation as ethical hacking leaders.
The results transcended media metrics. By securing the breach before disclosure and strategically positioning vpnMentor, EXL PR turned a potential crisis into a masterclass in responsible cybersecurity communications. Backlinks from 40% of coverage boosted vpnMentor’s digital authority, while the global media mix (29% regional, 19% news, 15% tech) ensured maximum impact across stakeholder groups.
More than just successful PR, this campaign demonstrated how cybersecurity firms can – and must – work with authorities and media to protect users while advancing their thought leadership. For vpnMentor, it proved their commitment to ethical hacking goes beyond research to real-world protection. For EXL PR, it showcased their unique ability to bridge cybersecurity, government relations and media strategy in India’s complex digital landscape.
In an era where data breaches make daily headlines, this case stands apart – a rare example of how to handle sensitive security findings with both technical precision and communications excellence. The true victory wasn’t just in the impressive media results, but in helping secure the financial data of millions of Indians while elevating responsible cybersecurity practices industry-wide.
From Hardware Provider to Cryptographic Authority: How Futurex Redefined Its Indian Narrative
For four decades, Futurex had quietly secured the world’s most sensitive data through its enterprise-grade encryption solutions. But as India’s fintech revolution accelerated, the Texas-based cybersecurity pioneer faced an unfamiliar challenge – while its hardware security modules protected 15,000+ organizations globally, its thought leadership wasn’t keeping pace with India’s digital transformation.
Enter EXL PR with a bold proposition: transform Futurex from a behind-the-scenes security workhorse into the definitive voice on cryptographic innovation for India’s banking and financial services revolution. The strategy was equal parts science and storytelling.
“We didn’t just want media coverage – we needed to own the conversation about India’s next-generation security needs,” explains Ruchin Kumar, Futurex’s VP for South Asia, who became the campaign’s star. Through meticulous media training and strategic positioning, Kumar evolved from company spokesperson to sought-after industry sage – his bylines gracing The Economic Times, his commentary on PCI compliance and data localization becoming required reading for India’s security professionals.
The numbers told the story of a narrative transformed:
60+ strategic placements including 40% in CXO-targeted media
23.3% penetration in vertical security publications
Dominant share-of-voice on emerging topics like cloud payment HSMs
But the real victory came in how the market began seeing Futurex. No longer just a hardware vendor, the company became the go-to source for insights on securing India’s digital future – its Mumbai and Hyderabad data centers now viewed as innovation hubs rather than just infrastructure.
“EXL PR helped us achieve something rare in cybersecurity – they made cryptography compelling,” reflects Kumar. As India’s fintech sector continues its explosive growth, Futurex’s thought leadership ensures it won’t just participate in the market conversation – it will define it.
The lesson? In India’s hypercompetitive security landscape, even category leaders need to continually reintroduce themselves. Futurex’s journey proves that with the right narrative strategy, decades of technical expertise can be repackaged into market-moving thought leadership.
Breaking the Security Status Quo: How Fortinet Rewrote India's Cybersecurity Playbook
The year was 2002. As India’s enterprises raced to connect to the digital world, their security infrastructure remained stuck in the past – a patchwork of single-point solutions that left dangerous gaps in protection. When Fortinet arrived with its revolutionary Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliances, the response from India’s IT leaders was unanimous: “This won’t work here.”
The skepticism ran deep. Network administrators scoffed at the idea that a single ASIC-accelerated FortiGate™ appliance could handle firewall, VPN, antivirus, and intrusion prevention without slowing their networks to a crawl. “You Americans don’t understand our complex environments,” they’d say. Even value-added resellers, the gatekeepers to enterprise deals, needed convincing.
Fortinet turned to EXL PR not for a typical product launch, but for an industry education mission. The campaign began with surgical precision:
Phase 1: The Media Blitz
EXL PR’s tech-savvy team flooded publications like CIOL and The Economic Times with hard data – real-world benchmarks showing FortiGate appliances outperforming cobbled-together solutions. Soon, journalists turned to Fortinet not just for product specs, but as authorities on India’s evolving threat landscape.
Phase 2: The Channel Revolution
While competitors focused on end customers, EXL PR helped Fortinet wage a parallel campaign to convert skeptical system integrators. Through hands-on workshops and customer success stories, they transformed doubters into disciples – creating an army of advocates who could speak the language of Indian network architects.
Phase 3: The Leadership Platform
Visiting Fortinet executives became regular fixtures in Indian business media, while local leadership earned bylines explaining how UTM solved uniquely Indian challenges. The message was clear: This wasn’t another foreign vendor pushing generic solutions – Fortinet understood India.
The results defied expectations. Within a year:
- 3 out of 5 UTM conversations in India referenced Fortinet
- Awards like “Security Vendor of the Year” validated the technical breakthrough
- The channel network exploded as SIs competed to carry Fortinet solutions
But the true victory came years later, as Fortinet’s Indian success became a springboard to global dominance. Those early educational investments paid compounding dividends – turning initial skepticism into unshakable market leadership.
Today, as Fortinet protects enterprises worldwide, its Indian market entry remains a textbook case in how to:
- Respect local market wisdom while challenging outdated assumptions
- Educate before you sell
- Build ecosystems, not just customer lists
For cybersecurity brands eyeing new markets, Fortinet’s journey offers a powerful lesson: The most disruptive technologies require equally disruptive storytelling.
