India’s Cybersecurity Framework: The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), conducted a cybersecurity familiarization visit and interactive session for visiting journalists from Europe, America and Central Asian countries on 12 December 2025.
The session was chaired by Dr. Sanjay Bahl, Director General, CERT-In and Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) at MeitY, New Delhi. Shri Krishan Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary, MeitY, offered welcome remarks to the delegation and highlighted various initiative of the ministry, including the India AI Impact Summit.
Dr. Bahl highlighted the role and responsibilities of CERT-In in cyber security, crisis management, vulnerability assessment, information sharing, and coordinated response to cyber incidents, empanelment of auditors, specialized training programmes in India. Through CERT-In’s research collaborations, public–private partnerships, and participation in international forums, CERT-In is building a robust and trusted cyber defence architecture aligned with the vision of Digital India.
Dr. Bahl underscored that CERT-In issues timely alerts and tailored advisories to organizations and citizens against emerging threats, ensuring proactive protection without causing unnecessary panic. Dr. Bahl also underscored India’s rapid emergence as a global cybersecurity hub, driven by more than 400 startups and a skilled workforce of over 6.5 lakh professionals, powering a $20 billion cybersecurity industry.
He noted that these innovators are building advanced solutions for threat detection, cyber forensics, and AI-based monitoring systems, reinforcing India’s commitment to a secure and resilient digital ecosystem.
Emphasizing the evolving threat landscape, Dr. Bahl observed that Artificial Intelligence (AI) acts as a double-edged sword—enabling both defenders and adversaries. He elaborated on how CERT-In leverages AI-driven analytics and automation to detect, prevent, and respond to cyber incidents in real time, while also developing countermeasures against malicious AI-enabled attacks.
The visiting journalists were briefed on CERT-In’s continuous drills, capacity-building initiatives, and international collaborations such as working with National Cybersecurity Agency for France (ANSSI) to publish a joint high-level risk analysis report on AI entitled ‘Building trust in AI through a cyber risk-based approach,’ in collaboration with other national authorities including CERT-In, conducting drills jointly with International partners and global & regional forums in cyber security.
CERT-In’s initiative to strengthen cybersecurity resilience in Indian cooperative banks as well as safeguard the Indian citizens’ digital devices from bots and malware which were featured in the Global Cybersecurity Outlook January 2025 report by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Dr. Bahl noted that India reported 147 ransomware incidents in 2024, adding that CERT-In’s coordinated actions significantly mitigated their impact through real-time intelligence sharing and forensic interventions.
Shri Krishan Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary, MeitY elaborated on the IndiaAI mission, AI Impact summit scheduled to be held in February 2026, policy support for startups developing indigenous cybersecurity solutions, cyber security research and development, various national level initiatives and projects of MeitY.
The session concluded with an interactive Q&A where delegation exchanged views on cross-border cooperation in cyber incident resolution and information sharing.
