Enhanced security & performance for Kotak Securities’ digital trading platform

Challenges

KSL’s digital trading platform was running on an outdated Drupal 7 version, which made it vulnerable and slow. They had to upgrade their core, contrib modules, and security patches, as well as the PHP and Apache server versions. The platform needed to be optimized for performance, with a reduction in page load time.

The upgrade had to be done with minimal downtime which was a challenging task, as the platform is extensively used by end-users daily and it was crucial to maintain a fast-performing and highly secure site.

Approach

To address Kotak Securities' challenges, we proposed upgrading their Drupal 7 core version, contrib modules, and security patches, as well as upgrading to PHP 7.3 and Apache 2.4. We also carefully planned and executed the upgrades to minimize downtime and avoided using third-party or open-source plugins due to security concerns.

Solution

Code audit

We started by auditing the platform’s code base and checking for security update compatibility. This revealed that we needed to update their Drupal 7 version and PHP version to accommodate the security patches.

Drupal core upgrade

To ensure that Kotak Securities' digital trading platform was secure and up-to-date, we updated the Drupal 7 core and 15 contrib modules. This involved installing the latest security patches and bug fixes, as well as new features and functionality.

Apache upgrade

The KSL portal was using the outdated Apache 2.2 web server, which is vulnerable to security attacks. To improve security and performance, we upgraded the Apache server to version 2.4.

PHP upgrade

The digital trading platform was running on PHP 5.3, which was no longer supported and vulnerable to security attacks. It was also missing out on the significant performance improvements that come with newer PHP versions. We upgraded the PHP version to 7.3, which is both more secure and faster.

Minimal downtime

The trading platform is used by millions of customers for a variety of financial transactions. To minimize downtime during the upgrades, we carefully planned and executed the process, reducing downtime from 6 hours to less than 2 hours.

This ensured that the platform was up and running as quickly as possible, with minimal impact on end-users.

Outcome

Kotak Securities' digital trading platform is now more secure and performant with all the upgrades. The security patches eliminated all vulnerabilities, and the page load time improved by 20%. Our team also ensured minimum downtime, minimizing disruption for end-users.